Novel 2H-pyrazolo[4,3-c]hexahydropyridine derivatives: Synthesis, crystal structure, fluorescence properties and cytotoxicity evaluation against human breast cancer cells

A series of novel 2H-pyrazolo4,3-c]hexahydropyridine derivatives (II) have been designed and synthesized. The target compounds have been identified by elemental analysis and spectral (¹H NMR, IR, and MS) data and the absolute configuration of compound (II ₁ ) was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The cytotoxicity of the target compounds have been evaluated in vitro against two human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 by MTT assay. Most compounds exhibited good inhibition, and compounds II ₂₁ (IC₅₀ = 4.7 μM for MCF-7 and IC₅₀ = 9.3 μM for MDA-MB-231), II ₃₃ (IC₅₀ = 2.4 μM for MCF-7 and IC₅₀ = 4.2 μM for MDA-MB-231) and II ₄₀ (IC₅₀ = 3.3 μM for MCF-7 and IC₅₀ =8.6 μM for MDA-MB-231) displayed better inhibitory activity than 5-fluorouracil (IC₅₀ = 4.8 μM for MCF-7 and IC₅₀ = 9.6 μM for MDA-MB-231, respectively). Flow cytometric analysis and DNA fragmentation suggest that II ₃₃ is cytotoxic and able to induce the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells. The fluorescence properties of compounds II ₁ , II ₆ , II ₁₁ , II ₁₆ , II ₂₃ , II ₂₈ , and II ₃₅ were also studied and compound II ₂₈ afforded the highest photoluminescence quantum yield (38%).