Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of imidazopyridine-linked thiazolidinone as potential anticancer agents

Anticancer Potential of the S-Heterocyclic Ring Containing Drugs and its Bioactivation to Reactive Metabolites

Sulfur-containing heterocyclic derivatives have been disclosed for binding with a wide range of cancer-specific protein targets. Various interesting derivatives of sulfur-containing heterocyclics such as benzothiazole, thiazole, thiophene, thiazolidinedione, benzothiophene, and phenothiazine, etc have been shown to inhibit diverse signaling pathways implicated in cancer. Significant progress has also been made in molecular targeted therapy against specific enzymes such as kinase receptors due to potential binding interactions inside the ATP pocket. Sulfur-containing heterocyclic ring metal complexes i. e., benzothiazole, thiazole, thiophene, benzothiophene and phenothiazines are among the most promising active anticancer compounds. However, sulfur heteroaromatic rings, particularly thiophene, are of high structural alert due to their metabolism to reactive metabolites. The mere presence of a structural alert itself does not determine compound toxicity therefore, this review focuses on some specific findings that shed light on factors influencing the toxicity. In the current review, synthetic strategies of introducing the sulfur core ring in the synthesized derivatives are discussed with their structure-activity relationships to enhance our understanding of toxicity mechanisms and develop safer therapeutic options. The sulfur-containing marketed anticancer drugs included in this review direct the synthesis of novel compounds and will help in the development of potent, safer sulfur-based anticancer drugs in near future.

Thiazolobenzamide-Naphthalene Hybrids as Potent Anticancer agents compared to Doxorubicin: Design, Synthesis, SAR, In-silico and Toxicity Analysis

In order to determine whether thiazolobenzamide molecules connected to naphthalene could inhibit the growth of three different tumor cell lines, MCF7 (breast carcinoma), A549 (pulmonary carcinoma), and DU145 (prostatic adenocarcinoma) a novel series of ten molecules, designated TA 1-10, was designed, synthesized, and tested. Among these compounds, TA7 showed promising results against cell lines, especially showing exceptional efficacy against breast cancer. Antioxidant activity tests consistently showed the best performance from the TA7 molecule. Furthermore, when a dose of 50 to 500 mg/kg of the total mass of rats is given, the most effective chemical, TA7, did not exhibit any harmful effects during acute oral toxicity tests. The biochemical indicators (SGOT and SGPT) for hepatotoxicity associated with compound TA7 were found to be fairly similar to those of the control group. The findings from molecular docking, XP visualization, and MM-GBSA dG binding investigations are in agreement with the outcomes of in-vitro tests of antioxidant and anticancer capabilities. TA7 was the most effective compound among those that were docked; it bound free energy and had adequate properties for metabolism (biochemical processes), distribution (dispersion), absorption (assimilation), and excretion (elimination). This study found that the TA7 molecule, a thiazole ring system derivative connected to naphthalene, is to be a promising and possible anticancer agent and its efficacy may be further explored in clinical studies.

Synthesis and Antioxidant Studies of 2,4-Dioxothiazolidine-5-acetic Acid Based Organic Salts: SC-XRD and DFT Approach

In the current study, two organic salts (1 and 2) are synthesized, and then crystalline structures are characterized by FTIR, UV spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallographic studies. The organic salts 1 and 2 are optimized at the M06/6-311G(d,p)level of theory and further utilized for analysis of natural bond orbitals (NBOs), natural population, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), and global reactivity parameters, which confirmed the stability of the studied compounds and charge transfer phenomenon in the studied compounds. The studies further revealed that 1 and 2 are more stable than 3. The lowest energy merged monomer-coformer conformations were docked as flexible ligands with rigid fungal proteins and DNA receptors. The stagnant binding of the monomer through two H bonds with protein was observed for ligands 1 and 3 while different pattern was found with 2. The coformers formed a single H bond with the active site in 2 and 3 and a single pi-arene H interaction in 1. The two-point ligand-receptor interactions hooked the monomer between DNA base pairs for partial intercalation; pi stacking with additive hydrogen bonding with the base pair led to a strong benzimidazole interaction in 1 and 2, whereas ethylene diamine formed weak H bonding. Thus, the molecular docking predicted that the coformer exhibited DNA intercalation reinforced by its salt formation with benzimidazole 1 and methyl benzimidazole 2. Antioxidant studies depicted that 3 has a higher IC50 value than that of 2,4-D and also the largest value among the studied compounds, whereas 2 showed the lowest value among the studied compounds.

Anticancer heterocyclic hybrids: design, synthesis, molecular docking and evaluation of new thiazolidinone-pyrazoles

In order to obtain potential anticancer agents, hybrid compounds have been synthesized by coupling thiazolidinone and pyrazole scaffolds. Among the synthesized compounds, 2-(1,3-diphenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)-3-phenyl thiazolidin-4-one (4a) was found to be the most potent based on a docking (−9.307) and binding scores (−66.46), along with good ADME parameters. In vitro anticancer activity of compound 4a shows a maximum inhibition against lung cancer (NCI-H23) cell lines with a moderate inhibition rate of 31.01%. Molecular docking studies revealed that these hybrid compounds bind well to the active site of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-gamma (PPAR-gamma). Doxorubicin was used as a positive control. It can be concluded that 4a having pyrazole-thiazolidinone ring systems has the potential to be developed as an anticancer agent.

Imidazopyridine, a promising scaffold with potential medicinal applications and structural activity relationship (SAR): recent advances

Imidazopyridine scaffold has gained tremendous importance over the past few decades. Imidazopyridines have been expeditiously used for the rationale design and development of novel synthetic analogs for various therapeutic disorders. A wide variety of imidazopyridine derivatives have been developed as potential anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-tubercular, anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, central nervous system (CNS) agents besides other chemotherapeutic agents. Imidazopyridine heterocyclic system acts as a key pharmacophore motif for the identification and optimization of lead structures to increase medicinal chemistry toolbox. The present review highlights the medicinal significances of imidazopyridines for their rationale development as lead molecules with improved therapeutic efficacies. This review further emphasis on the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of the various designed imidazopyridines to establish a relationship between the key structural features versus the biological activities.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

4-Thiazolidinone-Bearing Hybrid Molecules in Anticancer Drug Design

Oncological diseases have currently reached an epidemic scale, especially in industrialized countries. Such a situation has prompted complex studies in medicinal chemistry focused on the research and development of novel effective anticancer drugs. In this review, the data concerning new 4-thiazolidinone-bearing hybrid molecules with potential anticancer activity reported during the period from the years 2017-2022 are summarized. The main emphasis is on the application of molecular hybridization methodologies and strategies in the design of small molecules as anticancer agents. Based on the analyzed data, it was observed that the main directions in this field are the hybridization of scaffolds, the hybrid-pharmacophore approach, and the analogue-based drug design of 4-thiazolidinone cores with early approved drugs, natural compounds, and privileged heterocyclic scaffolds. The mentioned design approaches are effective tools/sources for the generation of hit/lead compounds with anticancer activity and will be relevant to future studies.

New bis-thiazolidinone based chalcone analogues as effective inhibitors of Alzheimer's disease: Synthesis, molecular docking, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase study

A series of twenty bis -thiazolidinone based chalcone scaffolds (1-20) were synthesized and characterized by using various spectroscopic tools such as HR-EI-MS, 1 HNMR, 13 CNMR and were screened in vitro for their AChE and BuChE inhibition profile. It was noteworthy, that all the synthetic analogues (except analogues 10, 12 and 1 4 , which are found to be inactive) showed moderate to good inhibitory potentials on screening against AchE and BuChE enzymes with IC 50 values ranging from 0.10 ±0.050 to 7.60 ± 0.10 µM and 0.10 ± 0.050µM to 10.70 ± 0.20 µM as compared to standard Donepezil inhibitor (IC 50 = 0.016 ± 0.12 µM), (IC 50 = 4.5 ± 0.11 µM).  Among the current series, analogue 20 (IC 50 = 0.10 ± 0.050µM), (IC 50 = 0.10 ± 0.050µM) bearing trihydroxy substitutions on ortho -, meta - and para -position of both rings A and B , respectively was found to be the most active inhibitor of AChE and BuChE enzymes . Analogue 19 (IC 50 = 0.20 ± 0.050 µM), (IC 50 = 0.20 ± 0.050µM) bearing dihydroxy substitutions on ortho - and meta -position of both ring A and ring B respectively, was identified as the second most potent inhibitor against both these enzymes. Potent analogs were further subjected to molecular docking study to identify the binding interactions with enzymes active site. SAR study was done for all the analogues mostly based on substitution pattern on both ring A and B respectively.

A Review of the Recent Developments of Molecular Hybrids Targeting Tubulin Polymerization

Microtubules are cylindrical protein polymers formed from αβ-tubulin heterodimers in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. Microtubule disturbance may cause cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase, and anomalous mitotic spindles will form. Microtubules are an important target for cancer drug action because of their critical role in mitosis. Several microtubule-targeting agents with vast therapeutic advantages have been developed, but they often lead to multidrug resistance and adverse side effects. Thus, single-target therapy has drawbacks in the effective control of tubulin polymerization. Molecular hybridization, based on the amalgamation of two or more pharmacophores of bioactive conjugates to engender a single molecular structure with enhanced pharmacokinetics and biological activity, compared to their parent molecules, has recently become a promising approach in drug development. The practical application of combined active scaffolds targeting tubulin polymerization inhibitors has been corroborated in the past few years. Meanwhile, different designs and syntheses of novel anti-tubulin hybrids have been broadly studied, illustrated, and detailed in the literature. This review describes various molecular hybrids with their reported structural–activity relationships (SARs) where it is possible in an effort to generate efficacious tubulin polymerization inhibitors. The aim is to create a platform on which new active scaffolds can be modeled for improved tubulin polymerization inhibitory potency and hence, the development of new therapeutic agents against cancer.

Synthesis, Antibacterial and Anthelmintic Activity of Novel 3-(3-Pyridyl)-oxazolidinone-5-methyl Ester Derivatives

In this study, a series of 3-(3-pyridyl)-oxazolidone-5-methyl ester derivatives was synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and LC-MS. The conducted screening antibacterial studies of the new 3-(3-pyridyl)-oxazolidone-5-methyl ester derivatives established that the methyl sulfonic acid esters have broad activity spectrum towards Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Among them, compound 12e has the most potent activity, with an MIC of 16 μg/mL against B.subtilis, and could reduce the instantaneous growth rate of bacteria. Furthermore, molecular docking studies were also simulated for compound 12e to predict the specific binding mode of this compound. In addition, anthelmintic activity of these compounds was also evaluated against adult Indian earthworms (Pheretima posthuman). The results showed that compound 11b had the best effect. These results above can provide experimental reference for the development of novel antibacterial and anthelmintic drugs.

The Bioactivity of Thiazolidin-4-Ones: A Short Review of the Most Recent Studies

Thiazolidin-4-ones is an important heterocyclic ring system of a pharmacophore and a privileged scaffold in medicinal chemistry. This review is focused on the latest scientific reports regarding biological activities of thiazolidin-4-ones published in 2020 and 2021. The review covers recent information about antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anticonvulsant, antidiabetic, antiparasitic, antimicrobial, antitubercular and antiviral properties of thiazolidin-4-ones. Additionally, the influence of different substituents in molecules on their biological activity was discussed in this paper. Thus, this study may help to optimize the structure of thiazolidin-4-one derivatives as more efficient drug agents. Presented information may be used as a practical hint for rational design of new small molecules with biological activity, especially among thiazolidin-4-ones.