The identification of perillyl alcohol glycosides with improved antiproliferative activity.

A facile route to perillyl alcohol (POH) differential glycosylation and the corresponding synthesis of a set of 34 POH glycosides is reported. Subsequent in vitro studies revealed a sugar dependent antiproliferative activity and the inhibition of S6 ribosomal protein phosphorylation as a putative mechanism of representative POH glycosides. The most active glycoside from this cumulative study (4'-azido-d-glucoside, PG9) represents one of the most cytotoxic POH analogues reported to date.