Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of Novel Nonfused Bicyclic Thiazolidinone Derivatives

A series of new 2-{4-oxo-2-(4-oxothiazolidin-2-ylidene)-hydrazono]-thiazolidin-5-yl}-N-arylacetamides ( 4a–e ), 5-(2-oxo-2-aryl-ethyl)-2-(4-oxothiazolidin-2-ylidene)-hydrazono]-thiazolidine-4-ones ( 5a–d ), 2-(4-oxo-2-(2-oxothiazolidin-4-ylidene)-hydrazono]-thiazolidin-5-yl)-N-arylacetamides ( 7a–e ), and 5-(2-oxo-2-aryl-ethyl)-2-(2-oxothiazolidin-4-ylidene)-hydrazono]-thiazolidine-4-ones ( 8a–d ) have been synthesized starting from 2-thioxothiazolidin-4-one and 4-thioxothiazolidin-2-one through a multistep reaction sequence. 2-Thioxothiazolidin-4-one was alkylated via the intermediate formation of the triethylammonium salt 1 by ethyl chloroacetate. Compound 2 and 4-thioxothiazolidin-2-one reacted with thiosemicarbazides to give the 1-(4-thiazolidinone-2-ylidene)-4-R-thiosemicarbazones ( 3a,b ) and 1-(2-thiazolidinone-4-ylidene)thiosemicarbazones ( 6a,b ), respectively. Following 2+3]-cyclization of thiazolidinone-substituted thiosemicarbazones ( 3a,b and 6a,b) with N-arylmaleimides and aroylacrylic acids as equivalents of dielectrophilic synthon C₂]^{2 +}, novel non-fused bicyclic thiazolidinones ( 4a–e, 5a–d, 7a–e, 8a–d ) were synthesized. The structures of the new compounds ( 4a–e, 5a–d, 7a–e, 8a–d ) were established on the basis of their elemental analysis and ¹H NMR and mass spectral data. Eight of the synthesized compounds were tested, and three of them displayed different levels of antitumor activity. The most efficient antitumor agent—2-{4-oxo-3-furylmethyl-2-(4-oxothiazolidin-2-ylidene)-hydrazono]-thiazolidin-5-yl}-N-4-chlorophenylacetamide ( 4d ) was found to be active against leukemia, melanoma, lung, colon, CNS, ovarian, renal, prostate, and breast cancer cell lines with mean lgGI₅₀ and lgTGI values of –5.35 and –4.78, respectively.