General structure of an isothiocyanate

Isothiocyanate is the chemical group ^-N=C=S, formed by substituting sulfur for oxygen in the isocyanate group. Allyl isothiocyanate is a chemical compound found in mustard oil that is responsible for its pungency. It is used for amino acid sequencing in Edman degradation.

[edit] Reactions

Isothiocyanates generally act as electrophiles with the carbon atom as the electrophilic center.

[edit] Biological activity

Isothiocyanates, such as phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) and sulforaphane, have been shown to inhibit carcinogenesis and tumorigenesis and as such are useful chemopreventive agents against the development and proliferation of cancers. They work on a variety of levels. Most notably, they have been shown to inhibit carcinogenesis through inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes, which oxidise compounds such as benzo[a]pyrene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)into more polar epoxy-diols which can then cause mutation and induce cancer development^[2]. Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) has been shown to induce apoptosis in certain cancer cell lines, and in some cases, is even able to induce apoptosis in cells that are resistant to some currently used chemotherapeutic drugs. For example, in drug resistant leukemia cells which produce the powerful apoptosis inhibitor protein BCl-2.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, isothiocyanates have been the basis of a drug in development which replaces the sulfur bonds with selenium, with far stronger potency against melanoma.^[3]

[edit] See also

• methylisothiocyanate
• Wasabi

[edit] References

1. ^ Improved approaches in the synthesis of new 2-(1, 3-thiazolidin-2Z-ylidene)acetophenones M. Carmen Ortega-Alfaro, José G. López-Cortés, Hiram Rangel Sánchez, Rubén A. Toscano, Guillermo Penieres Carrillo, and Cecilio Álvarez-Toledano Arkivoc (EJ-1528C) pp 356-365 2005 Online article
2. ^ Zhang Y, Kensler TW, Cho CG, et al. Anticarcinogenic activities of sulforaphane and structurally related synthetic norbornyl isothiocyanates. (1994) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:3147-3150. PMID 8159717. online article
3. ^ Physorg:Vegetable-based drug could inhibit melanoma