The flavanolignan silybin and its hemisynthetic derivatives, a novel series of potential modulators of P-glycoprotein.

A new series of potential flavonoidic modulators of P-glycoprotein activity has been prepared. The flavanolignan silybin was first oxidised to dehydrosilybin and then C-alkylated with either prenyl or geranyl bromide. The resulting isoprenoid dehydrosilybins were shown to display high in vitro affinities for direct binding to P-glycoprotein, which ranged them among the best flavonoids ever tested.