Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel bischalcone derivatives as potential anticancer agents

Bis-chalcones: A review of synthetic methodologies and anti-inflammatory effects

Chalcones are bioactive molecules of natural and synthetic sources, whose physicochemical properties, reactivity, and biological activities are well-known among the scientific community. However, there are many molecules strictly related to chalcones with significantly less recognition like bis-chalcones. Several studies indicated that bis-chalcones have advantages over chalcones in specific bioactivities like anti-inflammatory activity. This review article describes the chemical structure and chemical properties of bis-chalcones, as well as the methods reported in the literature for the synthesis of these compounds highlighting the most recent developments. Finally, the anti-inflammatory activity of bis-chalcones is described, emphasizing the active structures found in literature and their mechanisms of action.

Design and Synthesis of Carbothioamide/Carboxamide-Based Pyrazoline Analogs as Potential Anticancer Agents: Apoptosis, Molecular Docking, ADME Assay, and DNA Binding Studies

To discover anticancer drugs with novel structures and expand our research scope, pyrazoline derivatives (3a-3l) were designed and synthesized through cyclization of chalcones with thiosemicarbazide/semicarbazide in CH₃COOH as a solvent. All newly synthesized pyrazoline derivatives were fully characterized using several spectroscopic experiments such as ¹H, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, and mass analysis. By HPLC, the purity of all analogs was found above 95% and both lead compounds (3a and 3h) were also validated by HRMS. Anticancer activity of synthesized pyrazoline derivatives (3a-3l) was investigated by the MTT assay against the human lung cancer cell (A549), human cervical cancer cell (HeLa), and human primary normal lung cells (HFL-1). Staurosporine (STS) was used as a standard drug. The anticancer results showed that two potent analogs 3a and 3h exhibit excellent activity against A549 (IC₅₀ = 13.49 ± 0.17 and 22.54 ± 0.25 μM) and HeLa cells (IC₅₀ = 17.52 ± 0.09 and 24.14 ± 0.86 μM) and low toxicity against the HFL-1 (IC₅₀ = 114.50 ± 0.01 and 173.20 ± 10 μM). The flow cytometry was further used to confirm the anticancer activity of potent derivatives against the A549 cancer cell line. DNA binding interaction of anticancer agents 3a and 3h with Ct-DNA has been carried out by absorption, fluorescence, EtBr (dye displacement assay), circular dichroism, cyclic voltammetry and time-resolved fluorescence, which showed noncovalent binding mode of interaction. Anticancer activity of both lead compounds (3a and 3h) may be attributed to DNA binding. The evaluation of the antioxidant potential of pyrazoline analogs 3a and 3h by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical showed promising antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ values of 0.132 ± 0.012 and 0.215 ± 0.025 μg/mL, respectively. In silico molecular docking of pyrazoline derivatives was also performed using autodock vina software against the DNA hexamer with PDB ID: 1Z3F and ADMET properties to explore their best hits.