Novel acenaphthopyrazine derivatives as antitumor agents against MCF-7 cells: molecular synthesis, optical properties, and DNA-binding studies

Abstract  

A series of novel acenaphthopyrazine derivatives was synthesized from acenaphthylene-1,2-dione via three steps, including bromination, cyclization, and S_NAr^H reaction. These new compounds exhibited potential antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 cells in vitro, and 3-2-(dimethylamino)ethylamino]acenaphtho1,2-b]pyrazine-8,9-dicarbonitrile exhibited the highest activity (IC ₅₀ = 4.60 μM). DNA-binding experiments suggested that these derivatives bind to DNA through intercalation with intrinsic binding constants K all above 10⁵ M⁻¹. Optical property studies indicated that these compounds have long emission wavelength (λ _em > 560 nm), high quantum yields in toluene (Φ_f = 0.59 for 3-(morpholin-4-yl)acenaphtho1,2-b]pyrazine-8,9-dicarbonitrile), and large Stokes shift (ΔS > 130 nm).