Synthesis and biological evaluation of 1,2,4-oxadiazole linked 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives as tubulin binding agents

As an aspect of our ongoing research in search of new anticancer agents, a series of novel analogs of 1,3,4-oxadiazole embedded with 1,2,4-oxadiazole moieties (11a–j) were synthesized. The structure of the final compounds was confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³CNMR and mass spectroscopic techniques and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against three human cancer cell lines (lung, breast). Among the synthesized compounds, 11?b, 11?g, 11?h, and 11i showed potent anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values within the range of 0.34?±?0.025 to 2.45?±?0.23?μM against three human cancer cell lines. Further, these compounds (11a–j) were investigated for molecular docking studies. Among them, compound 11?h showed strong binding affinity on binding sites of target protein EGFR (PDB ID: 4hjo) with highest docking score (-7.028). It revealed that 11?h was a strong tubulin binding agent.     

Synthesis of spirooxindoles promoted by the deep eutectic solvent,ZnCl2+urea via the pseudo four-component reaction: anticancer,antioxidant, and molecular docking studies

Abstract

Various spirooxindoles (7a–c, 8a–c, 9a–c, and 10a–c) were efficiently synthesized using deep eutectic solvent ZnCl₂+urea and well characterized using IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic techniques. The biological screening results showed that the compound 9a exhibited potent anticancer activity against MCF7 and HeLa cell lines with IC₅₀ values 6.47?±?0.01 and 9.14?±?0.32?µM, respectively. The compound 7c exhibited potent activity against the HeLa cell line with IC₅₀ value 6.81?±?0.01?µM. The compound 9a exhibited a potent antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ value 7.34?±?0.17?µM. The comparative molecular docking study against the cancer proteins EGFR and HER2 revealed that the EGFR was the best target protein receptor for the target compounds. Among all the compounds, the compound 9a exhibited the least binding energy ?10.72?kcal/mol against the protein EGFR (PDB ID: 4HJO).     

Design,synthesis and docking studies of new hydrazinyl-thiazole derivatives as anticancer and antimicrobial agents

Increase in the number of infections caused by pathogenic microbes in cancer patients has prompted the searcher to invest in the development of agents having dual anticancer and antimicrobial properties. The present study is concerned with synthesis and screening for anticancer and antimicrobial activity of a series of 5-hydrazinyl-2-(2-(1-(thien-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)thiazole derivatives. The structure elucidation of the synthesized hydrazinyl thiazole derivatives was illustrated by spectroscopic and elemental analysis. All the newly synthesized compounds 5a-p were evaluated for in-vitro cytotoxic activity against breast carcinoma (MCF-7 cell line), hepatocellular carcinoma (HePG-2) and colorectal cancer (HCT-116) cell lines using MTT assay method. Compounds 5 g, 5h showed broad spectrum activity against three cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ ranged from 3.81 to 11.34 µM in compared to the reference drug Roscovitine (IC₅₀ = 9.32 to 13.82 µM), while compounds 5 l and 5 m were found to be more selective against HePG-2 and HCT-116 cell line (IC₅₀ = 9.29 and 8.93 µM respectively) and compound 5j was more selective against HePG-2 and MCF-7 cell lines (IC₅₀ = 6.73 and 10.87 µM respectively). The inhibitory activity of the most promising compounds was tested against the EGFR and ARO enzymes and were further tested for apoptosis and Annexin V/PI staining. The results of enzyme-based tests revealed that the tested compound 5j has a dual inhibitory effect on the EGFR and ARO enzymes with IC₅₀ = 82.8 and 98.6 nM respectively in compared to the reference drugs Erlotinib and Letrozole (IC₅₀ = 62.4 and 79 nM respectively). Furthermore, the majority of the tested hydrazinyl thiazole derivatives exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against the used pathogenic microbes species. Compounds 4b, 5h, 5j and 5 m exerted a good antibacterial and antifungal activity against all tested pathogenic microbes. Therefore, it was concluded that compounds 5 h, 5j and 5 m proved to possess dual anticancer and antimicrobial agent and may serves as a useful lead compounds in search for further modification or derivatization to give more potent and selective agents.     

Novel Bis(1,2,4-oxadiazolyl) Fused Thiazole Derivatives: Synthesis and Anticancer Activity

A novel series of bis-1,2,4-oxadiazole fused benzothiazole derivatives 9a–9j are synthesized, and their structures are confirmed by ¹H and ¹³C NMR, and mass spectral data. All products are evaluated in vitro for their anticancer potential against a panel of four human cancer cell lines such as lung cancer (A549), breast carcinoma (MCF-7), melanoma (A375), and colon cancer (HT-29). The combretastatin-A4 is used as standard drug. All compounds 9a–9j exhibit significant anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.11±0.01 to 14.6±3.89 μM. Among these, compounds 9a–9d, 9h, 9i demonstrate more potent activity than the control.

     

Synthesis,biological evaluation and computational studies of fused acridine containing 1,2,4-triazole derivatives as anticancer agents

A novel series of fused acridine containing 1,2,4-triazole derivatives (13a-j) have been synthesized and their structures were confirmed by ¹HNMR, 13CNMR and mass spectral data. Further, all these derivatives were tested for their anticancer activity against four human cancer cell lines A549 (Lung), MCF7 (Breast), A375 (Melanoma) and HT-29 (Colon). The IC₅₀ values range of target compounds shown 0.11 ± 0.02 to 13.8 ± 0.99 µM as compared with standard drug range 0.11 ± 0.02 to 0.93 ± 0.056 µM. Among them, compounds 13d, 13f, 13g, 13h, 13i, and 13j were exhibited more potent activity. Docking simulation was performed as a trial to study the mechanisms and binding modes of these compounds towards the DNA target. The results showed these compounds have intercalated placement in the active sites and stable interactions similar to the co-crystallized reference ligand. Further, these compounds (13a-j) were investigated for Drug-likeness, ADME properties and Toxicity risk assessment.     

Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of 1,2,3-Triazole Fused N-Arylpyrazole Derivatives

A novel series of triazole derivatives 11a–11j is synthesized. Structures of the products are confirmed by ¹H and ¹³C NMR, and mass spectral data. The anticancer activities of compounds 11a–11j are evaluated against three human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, A549, and A375) using the standard MTT assay in vitro, using doxorubicin as the positive control. All the compounds exhibit significant activity against cancer cell lines. The compounds 11a, 11d, 11e, 11g, and 11j demonstrate more potent activity than the positive control.

     

Synthesis,biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of novel 2-(2-cyanophenyl)-N-phenylacetamide derivatives

A series of novel 2-(2-cyanophenyl)-N-phenylacetamide derivatives 3(a-u) were designed and synthesized via selective amidation of methyl-2-(2-cyanophenyl)acetates over amidine formation by using AlMe₃ as catalyst in good yields. All the newly synthesized derivatives were well characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FTIR and HRMS spectral techniques. All the synthesized title compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against three cancer cell lines. Among all compounds, 3i (IC₅₀?=?1.20 μM, IC₅₀?=?1.10 μM), 3j (IC₅₀?=?0.11 μM, IC₅₀?=?0.18 μM), 3o (IC₅₀?=?0.98 μM, IC₅₀?=?2.76 μM) showed excellent inhibitory activity than the standard Etoposide (IC₅₀?=?2.11 μM, IC₅₀?=?3.08 μM) against MCF-7 and A-549 cell lines, respectively. Docking analysis of all the compounds with the human topoisomerase II revealed that the compound 3j fitted well in the active site pocket, showing the best docking score of 158.072 kcal/mol.

     

Design,synthesis, anticancer activity,and in silico studies of novel imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine based 1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives

A novel series of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine based 1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their anticancer activity against two different human cancer cell lines. Most of the synthesized compounds displayed anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values from 2.35 to 120.46 μM. Furthermore, compounds 9b , 9c, 9d, 9f , and 9j showed potent inhibitory activity against cancer cell lines, with IC₅₀ values close to that of standard drug. It is important to note that compound 9d was more potent than the standard drug cisplatin with IC₅₀ values of 10.89 and 2.35 μM against Hela cell line and MCF-7 cell line, respectively.     

Synthesis and anticancer activity of benzotriazole derivatives

A series of benzotriazole (BTA) derivatives were synthesized as tyrosine protein kinase inhibitors using fragment-based design strategy. All desired compounds were synthesized with the reaction of benzotriazole, chloroacetonitrile and aromatic aldehyde using Ultrasonic-Microwave method and characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C-NMR, mass spectrometry (MS) and elemental analysis. The anticancer activity of these compounds was evaluated by CCK-8 method against carcinoma VX2, lung cancer A549, stomach cancer cell lines MKN45 and MGC in vitro. The results showed that all compounds showed good antiproliferative activity. In particular, compound 2.1 showed the most prominent inhibition of VX2 cell lines with IC₅₀ of 3.80 ± 0.75 μM. Compound 2.2 exhibited highly potent anticancer activity of stomach MGC cell lines with IC₅₀ of 3.72 ± 0.11 μM. A549 and MKN45 cell lines were sensitive to compound 2.5 with IC₅₀ of 5.47 ± 1.11 and 3.04 ± 0.02 μM, respectively.     

Synthesis of novel triazoloquinoxaline-pyrazole hybrids as antiproliferatives,EGFR inhibitors,and apoptosis inducers

Novel triazoloquinoxaline-pyrazole hybrids have been developed and synthesized. All derivatives' anticancer activity has been evaluated using Sulforhodamine-B (SRB) assay for cancer cell lines MCF-7, HepG-2, and HCT-116. Compound 12b was 2-fold more cytotoxic than Doxorubicin, while 12a , c demonstrated comparable cytotoxicity to the reference Doxorubicin. Further investigations on the most active derivatives 12a-c were done to study their inhibitory activity on two EGFR subtypes wild EGFR and mutant EGFR (L858R) tyrosine kinases in MCF-7 cell lines. Compound 12b exhibited potent inhibitory activity toward wild EGFR (IC₅₀: 0.98 μM) when compared to Gefitinib (IC₅₀:18.07 μM). 12b also possessed a marked inhibition against mutant EGFR (L858R-TK) exhibiting (IC₅₀:27.45 μM) in comparison to Lapatinib (IC₅₀: 61.06 μM). Compound 12b improved the active Caspase-3 value and the BAX/Bcl-2 reference. Furthermore, 12b showed G2/M cell cycle arrest induced apoptosis in cell line MCF-7. In addition, the most active derivatives have been orally bioavailable as shown in the in silico determination of the ADME characters. The binding pattern of compound 12b was also studied by molecular docking.     

Novel Perbutyrylated Glucose Derivatives of (–)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Inhibit Cancer Cells Proliferation by Decreasing Phosphorylation of the EGFR: Synthesis,Cytotoxicity, and Molecular Docking

Lung cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancer mortality worldwide. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in cellular functions and has become the new promising target. Natural products and their derivatives with various structures, unique biological activities, and specific selectivity have served as lead compounds for EGFR. D-glucose and EGCG were used as starting materials. A series of glucoside derivatives of EGCG (7–12) were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against five human cancer cell lines, including HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, MCF-7, and SW480. In addition, we investigated the structure-activity relationship and physicochemical property–activity relationship of EGCG derivatives. Compounds 11 and 12 showed better growth inhibition than others in four cancer cell lines (HL-60, SMMC-7721, A-549, and MCF), with IC₅₀ values in the range of 22.90–37.87 μM. Compounds 11 and 12 decreased phosphorylation of EGFR and downstream signaling protein, which also have more hydrophobic interactions than EGCG by docking study. The most active compounds 11 and 12, both having perbutyrylated glucose residue, we found that perbutyrylation of the glucose residue leads to increased cytotoxic activity and suggested that their potential as anticancer agents for further development.     

Design and synthesis of novel 7-[(N-substituted-thioureidopiperazinyl)-methyl]-camptothecin derivatives as potential cytotoxic agents

Abstract

As part of continuing our research on diverse C-7 derivatives of camptothecin (CPT), 16 CPT derivatives bearing piperazinyl-thiourea chemical scaffold and different substituent groups have been designed, synthesized and evaluated in vitro for cytotoxicity against five tumor cell lines (A-549, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, KB and KBvin). As a result, all the synthesized compounds showed promising in vitro cytotoxic activity against the five tumor cell lines tested, and were more potent than irinotecan. Importantly, compounds 13?g (IC₅₀ = 0.514?μM) and 13o (IC₅₀ = 0.275?μM) possessed similar or better antiproliferative activity against the multidrug-resistant (MDR) KBvin subline than that of topotecan (IC₅₀ = 0.511?μM) and merit further development as anticancer candidates for clinical trail. With these results in hand, we have a reason to conclude that incorporating piperazinyl-thiourea motifs into position-7 of camptothecin confers well cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines, probably resulting in new anticancer drugs.     

Synthesis and Biological Activity Evaluation of Coumarin-3-Carboxamide Derivatives

A series of novel coumarin-3-carboxamide derivatives were designed and synthesized to evaluate their biological activities. The compounds showed little to no activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria but specifically showed potential to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. In particular, among the tested compounds, 4-fluoro and 2,5-difluoro benzamide derivatives (14b and 14e, respectively) were found to be the most potent derivatives against HepG2 cancer cell lines (IC₅₀ = 2.62–4.85 μM) and HeLa cancer cell lines (IC₅₀ = 0.39–0.75 μM). The activities of these two compounds were comparable to that of the positive control doxorubicin; especially, 4-flurobenzamide derivative (14b) exhibited low cytotoxic activity against LLC-MK2 normal cell lines, with IC₅₀ more than 100 μM. The molecular docking study of the synthesized compounds revealed the binding to the active site of the CK2 enzyme, indicating that the presence of the benzamide functionality is an important feature for anticancer activity.     

Design,Synthesis, Biological Evaluation and Silico Prediction of Novel Sinomenine Derivatives

Sinomenine is a morphinan alkaloid with a variety of biological activities. Its derivatives have shown significant cytotoxic activity against different cancer cell lines in many studies. In this study, two series of sinomenine derivatives were designed and synthesized by modifying the active positions C₁ and C₄ on the A ring of sinomenine. Twenty-three compounds were synthesized and characterized by spectroscopy (IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and HRMS). They were further evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against five cancer cell lines, MCF-7, Hela, HepG2, SW480 and A549, and a normal cell line, Hek293, using MTT and CCK8 methods. The chlorine-containing compounds exhibited significant cytotoxic activity compared to the nucleus structure of sinomenine. Furthermore, we searched for cancer-related core targets and verified their interaction with derivatives through molecular docking. The chlorine-containing compounds 5g, 5i, 5j, 6a, 6d, 6e, and 6g exhibited the best against four core targets AKT1, EGFR, HARS and KARS. The molecular docking results were consistent with the cytotoxic results. Overall, results indicate that chlorine-containing derivatives might be a promising lead for the development of new anticancer agents.     

Novel Pyridothienopyrimidine Derivatives: Design,Synthesis and Biological Evaluation as Antimicrobial and Anticancer Agents

The growing risk of antimicrobial resistance besides the continuous increase in the number of cancer patients represents a great threat to global health, which requires intensified efforts to discover new bioactive compounds to use as antimicrobial and anticancer agents. Thus, a new set of pyridothienopyrimidine derivatives 2a,b–9a,b was synthesized via cyclization reactions of 3-amino-thieno[2,3-b]pyridine-2-carboxamides 1a,b with different reagents. All new compounds were evaluated against five bacterial and five fungal strains. Many of the target compounds showed significant antimicrobial activity. In addition, the new derivatives were further subjected to cytotoxicity evaluation against HepG-2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. The most potent cytotoxic candidates (3a, 4a, 5a, 6b, 8b and 9b) were examined as EGFR kinase inhibitors. Molecular docking study was also performed to explore the binding modes of these derivatives at the active site of EGFR-PK. Compounds 3a, 5a and 9b displayed broad spectrum antimicrobial activity with MIC ranges of 4–16 µg/mL and potent cytotoxic activity with IC₅₀ ranges of 1.17–2.79 µM. In addition, they provided suppressing activity against EGFR with IC₅₀ ranges of 7.27–17.29 nM, higher than that of erlotinib, IC₅₀ = 27.01 nM.     

Design,Synthesis, Molecular Modeling and Antitumor Evaluation of Novel Indolyl-Pyrimidine Derivatives with EGFR Inhibitory Activity

Scaffolds hybridization is a well-known drug design strategy for antitumor agents. Herein, series of novel indolyl-pyrimidine hybrids were synthesized and evaluated in vitro and in vivo for their antitumor activity. The in vitro antiproliferative activity of all compounds was obtained against MCF-7, HepG2, and HCT-116 cancer cell lines, as well as against WI38 normal cells using the resazurin assay. Compounds 1–4 showed broad spectrum cytotoxic activity against all these cancer cell lines compared to normal cells. Compound 4g showed potent antiproliferative activity against these cell lines (IC₅₀ = 5.1, 5.02, and 6.6 μM, respectively) comparable to the standard treatment (5-FU and erlotinib). In addition, the most promising group of compounds was further evaluated for their in vivo antitumor efficacy against EAC tumor bearing mice. Notably, compound 4g showed the most potent in vivo antitumor activity. The most active compounds were evaluated for their EGFR inhibitory (range 53–79%) activity. Compound 4g was found to be the most active compound against EGFR (IC₅₀ = 0.25 µM) showing equipotency as the reference treatment (erlotinib). Molecular modeling study was performed on compound 4g revealed a proper binding of this compound inside the EGFR active site comparable to erlotinib. The data suggest that compound 4g could be used as a potential anticancer agent.     

One-pot synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 4-[3-fluoro-4-(morpholin-4-yl)]phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives as potent antibacterial and anticancer agents

In search of better antibacterial and anticancer agents, a series of novel 4-[3-fluoro-4-(morpholin-4-yl)]phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives were synthesized ( 6a - l and 8a - j ) by using 3-fluoro-4-morpholinoaniline, alkyne, and triflyl azide via an in situ generated 4-(4-azido-2-fluorophenyl)morpholine and evaluated for their antibacterial and anticancer activity in vitro. Antibacterial activity against three G+ bacterial strains and anticancer activity against breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa) was evaluated. Among all the tested compounds, 6h , 6i , and 8b exhibited potent antibacterial activity against tested gram-positive bacterial strains. The anticancer activity screening results of 8f , 8h , and 8i exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against two cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values nearer to the standard drug, doxorubicin. The remaining compounds have shown good to moderate activity against the tested cell lines. On the basis of the results obtained, a structure-activity relationship (SAR) is discussed.     

1,2-Benzisoxazole-3-acetamide derivatives as dual agents for DPP-IV inhibition and anticancer activity

Abstract

Herein, we have designed various benzisoxazole acetamide derivatives with and without glycine spacer as DPP-IV inhibitors. Compounds 9a–d and 11a–e were synthesized and screened for their in vitro DPP-IV inhibition. Compounds 11a and 11c showed moderate activity for DPP-IV inhibition, whereas other remained inactive at 25–200?µM concentrations. DPP-IV inhibition can be a good strategy for modulating diabetes and cancer; hence, we have screened compounds 9a–d and 11a–e for their anticancer activity using MTT assay against A549 and MCF7 cell lines. Compounds 9a–d without glycine spacer have shown good anticancer activity compared to compounds 11a–e with glycine spacer. Compound 9b has shown moderate activity with IC₅₀ values 4.72?±?0.72 and 4.39?±?0.809?µM against A549 and MCF7 cell lines, respectively. Interestingly, compound 9c with cyano group has shown very good anticancer activity with IC₅₀ 2.36?±?0.34?µM against MCF7 cell line as compared to fluorouracil with IC₅₀ 45.04?±?1.02?µM.     

Synthesis of novel [1,2,3]triazolo[4′,5′:3,4]pyrrolo[1,2-a]thieno[2,3-d] pyrimidines: Potent EGFR targeting anti-breast cancer agents

In this study, we designed and synthesized several novel fused [1,2,3]triazolo [4′,5′:3,4]pyrrolo[1,2-a]thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives using in a single [3 + 2] reaction cycloaddition reaction of 3-(3-iodoprop-2-yn-1-yl)thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-one ( 4 ) followed by C-C bond coupling with various aryl azides in a PEG-400 medium. All of the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for EGFR kinase inhibitory action as well as anti-breast cancer activity against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. When compared to the reference molecule, erlotinib, the majority of the compounds demonstrated adequate efficacy. The most promising compounds, 5g and 5i , demonstrated excellent anticancer activity against both cancer cell lines, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 04.17 ± 0.55 to 8.65 ± 0.89 μM, respectively, as well as excellent kinase inhibitory activities (EGFR: IC₅₀ = 0.467 ± 0.063 and 0.412 ± 0.081 μM). The in silico studies of five potent compounds 5f , 5g , 5h , 5i , and 5k were also carried out to identify the interactions against the EGFR receptor and found that the energy calculations were covenant with the obtained IC₅₀ values.     

Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis-Inducing Ability of Benzimidazole Derivatives: Design,Synthesis, Docking,and Biological Evaluation

In the current study, new benzimidazole-based 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives have been synthesized and characterized by NMR, IR, MS, and elemental analysis. The final compounds were screened for cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231, SKOV3, and A549 cell lines and EGFR for inhibitory activities. Compounds 10 and 13 were found to be the most active against all the tested cell lines, comparable to doxorubicin, and exhibited significant inhibition on EGFR kinase, with IC₅₀ 0.33 and 0.38 μM, respectively, comparable to erlotinib (IC₅₀ 0.39 μM). Furthermore, these two compounds effectively suppressed cell cycle progression and induced cell apoptosis in MDA-MB-231, SKOV3, and A549 cell lines. The docking studies revealed that these compounds showed interactions similar to erlotinib at the EGFR site. It can be concluded that the synthesized molecules effectively inhibit EGFR, can arrest the cell cycle, and may trigger apoptosis and therefore, could be used as lead molecules in the development of new anticancer agents targeting EGFR kinase.