Synthesis,Characterization and Biological Evaluation of Magnolol and Honokiol Derivatives with 1,3,5-Triazine of Metformin Cyclization

Herein, we sought to evaluate the contribution of the 1,3,5-triazine ring through the metformin cyclization unit to the biological activity of magnolol and honokiol-conjugates. One of the phenolic OH groups of magnolol or honokiol was replaced by a 1,3,5-triazine ring to further explore their synthesis and medicinal versatility. In this study, a robust procedure of three steps was adopted for the synthesis of magnolol and honokiol derivatives by alkylation of potassium carbonate with a 1,3,5-triazine ring. To our knowledge, this is the first report to connect one of the phenolic OH positions of magnolol or honokiol to a 1,3,5-triazine ring cyclized by metformin. The structural characterization of three new compounds was carried out via spectroscopic techniques, i.e., ¹³C NMR, ¹H NMR, and HRMS. Surprisingly, these compounds showed no cytotoxicity against RAW 264.7 macrophages but significantly inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 (human breast cancer cells), HepG2 (human hepatoma cells), A549 (human lung carcinoma cells), and BxPC-3 (human pancreatic carcinoma cells) tumor cell lines. Furthermore, the compounds also significantly inhibited the release of inflammatory cytokines, including nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated mouse cells (RAW 264.7). Among them, compound 2 demonstrated promising broad-spectrum antiproliferative potential with half inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values ranging from 5.57 to 8.74 µM and it significantly decreased caspase-3 and Bcl-2 expression in HepG2 cells. These interesting findings show that derivatization of magnolol and honokiol with 1,3,5-triazine affects and modulates their biological properties.