Thymoquinone (TQ), 2-isopropyl-5-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone, a natural product isolated from Nigella sativa L., has previously been demonstrated to exhibit antiproliferative activity in vitro against a range of cancers as well as the human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. We describe here the synthesis of a series of analogues of TQ that explore the potential for nitrogen-substitution to this scaffold, or reduction to a hydroquinone scaffold, in increasing the potency of this antiproliferative activity against ovarian cancer cell lines and P. falciparum. In addition, alkyl or halogen-substituted analogues were commercially sourced and tested in parallel. Several TQ analogues with improved potency against ovarian cancer cells and P. falciparum were found, although this increase is suggested to be moderate. Key aspects of the structure activity relationship that could be further explored are highlighted.

百里香酚（TQ），2-异丙基-5-甲基-1,4-苯醌是一种从Nigella sativa L.分离得到的天然产物，以前已被证明在体外对多种癌症和人类疟疾具有抗增殖活性。寄生虫恶性疟原虫。我们在这里描述了一系列TQ的类似物的合成，这些类似物探索了氮取代该支架或还原为对苯二酚支架的潜力，从而增加了这种抗增殖活性对卵巢癌细胞系和恶性疟原虫的效力。。另外，烷基或卤素取代的类似物是商业来源的，并进行平行测试。发现了几种具有改善的抗卵巢癌细胞和恶性疟原虫效力的TQ类似物，尽管这种增加被认为是中等程度的。强调了可以进一步探讨的结构活动关系的关键方面。