Synthesis and cytotoxicity studies of quinoline-3-carbonitrile derivatives

A series of quinoline-3-carbonitrile derivatives were designed and synthesized. Their cytotoxicity in vitro against four cancer cell lines (A549, HT-29, MDA-MB-231 and SMMC-7721) were evaluated by standard MTT assay. The pharmacological results showed that most of the prepared compounds displayed excellent selective cytotoxicity toward SMMC-7721 cell line. Among them, compounds 7c, 7e, 11b, 11f and 11g were more active than Gefitinb against SMMC-7721 cell line.