Synthesis of Novel Synthetic Vitamin K Analogues Prepared by Introduction of a Heteroatom and a Phenyl Group That Induce Highly Selective Neuronal Differentiation of Neuronal Progenitor Cells

We
synthesized novel vitamin K2 analogues that incorporated
a heteroatom and an aromatic ring in the side chain and evaluated
their effect on the selective differentiation of neuronal progenitor
cells into neurons in vitro. The results
showed that a menaquinone-2 analogue bearing a p-fluoroaniline
had the most potent activity, which was more than twice as great as
the control. In addition, the neuronal selectivity was more than 3
times greater than the control.