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10-Alkylthiocolchicines have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods and their biological activities as: cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities have been tested. Cytotoxic activity against SKOV-3 ovarian cell line for 10-alkylthiocolchicine analogues was reported and tested compounds showed to be more active than commonly used doxorubicin. Some of tested C-10 alkylthiolated colchicines have been found to exhibit cytotoxicity at levels comparable to that of the natural product—colchicine. 10-Methylthiocolchicine has IC50 = 8 nM and 10-ethylthiocolchicine has IC50 = 47 nM in comparison to colchicine IC50 = 37 nM. Moreover for 10-alkylthioderivatives apoptosis test, cyclin B1 and cell cycle tests were performed. 10-n-Butylthiocolchicine was tested for anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities it showed to produce analgesic rather than anti-inflammatory effect.

A series of new semi-synthetic 7-deacetyl-10-alkylthiocolchicne derivatives with ethyl, n-propyl, i-propyl and n-butyl substituents were synthesised and characterised by spectroscopic methods, elemental analysis, DFT calculations and molecular docking simulations. All the synthesized compounds have been tested for fungicidal and anticancer activities against SKOV-3, LoVo, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and the lung-derived fibroblast CCD39Lu. All the new colchicine derivatives exhibit significantly higher cytotoxicity towards the SKOV-3 tumour cell line than the natural product – colchicine. The most effective cytotoxic agents were 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine and 7-deacetyl-10-i-propylthiocolchicine. Among all the compounds tested, 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine exhibited the highest fungicidal activity. Molecular modeling indicated that several mutations found in the β-tubulin unit of the tested fungal strains are crucial for antifungal activity and selectivity of 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine. The obtained results may be useful for the development of selective colchicine derivatives as effective fungicidal and/or anticancer drugs.

Thiocolchicine (10-methylthiocolchicine) is a semi-synthetic alkaloid with notable cytotoxic activity. Complexes of 10-methylthiocolchicine with Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+ and Cs+ monovalent cations of perchlorates and iodides have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods, semi-empirical studies and molecular modelling. An explanation of the chemical nature of complexes formed between this alkaloid and monovalent metal cations of perchlorate and iodide salts which are present in human daily life is important. Their activities as cytotoxic and antifungal agents were also tested against the SKOV-3 cancer cell line and for eight selected microfungi species, respectively. Biological tests indicated no antifungal properties for 10-methylthiocolchicine. Complexation of 10-methylthiocolchicine with monovalent metal cations significantly improved the anticancer potency (~IC50 = 4 nM) against the SKOV-3 cancer cell line.

Complexes of colchiceine with monovalent cation perchlorates and iodides have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods. DFT and spectroscopic studies reveal that the dihedral angle ω1-1a-12-12a , crucial for colchicine biological mechanism of action, that is, binding to tubulins depends on the diameter of the complexed metal cation. Biological tests indicated no antifungal properties of colchicine (it was active only toward A.pullulans), in contrast to its derivative-(colchiceine). Complexation of colchiceine with metal cations improved significantly the antifungal potency, even below MIC

Semi-synthetic C-10 alkyl thio analogues of the cytotoxic natural alkaloid colchicine have been found to exhibit cytotoxicity towards tumour cell lines at levels comparable to that of the natural product. An efficient synthesis of 10-alkyl thiocolchicines in mild conditions is proposed and the products are studied by H and C NMR, FT-IR, MS-EI methods and elementary analysis. The crystal structure of 10-ethylthiocolchicine is characterised using X-ray diffraction methods. Cytotoxic activity against selected cancer cell lines for all obtained 10-alkylthio analogues of colchicine is also reported.