Preparation and biological activity of 13-substituted retinoic acids Original Research Article

13-Demethyl or 13-substituted all-E- and 9Z-retinoic acids were synthesized using a palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction of enol triflates and tributylstannylolefins. Their biological activities were then measured. The 13-ethyl analogs exhibited approximately one-half of the antiproliferative and differentiation-inducing activity of ATRA in HL-60 cells. In contrast, in the 9Z-derivatives, all analogs, except for the 13-butyl derivatives, showed apoptosis-inducing activity.