Synthesis and identification of α-cyano bis(indolyl)chalcones as novel anticancer agents

Licochalcone A: a review of its pharmacology activities and molecular mechanisms

Licorice, derived from the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, is a key Traditional Chinese Medicine known for its detoxifying, spleen-nourishing, and qi-replenishing properties. Licochalcone A (Lico A), a significant component of licorice, has garnered interest due to its molecular versatility and receptor-binding affinity. This review explores the specific roles of Lico A in various diseases, providing new insights into its characteristics and guiding the rational use of licorice. Comprehensive literature searches using terms such as "licorice application" and "pharmacological activity of Lico A" were conducted across databases including CNKI, PubMed, and Google Scholar to gather relevant studies on Lico A's pharmacological activities and mechanisms. Lico A, a representative chalcone in licorice, targets specific mechanisms in anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities. It also plays a role in post-transcriptional regulation. This review delineates the similarities and differences in the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of Lico A, concluding that its effects on non-coding RNA through post-transcriptional mechanisms deserve further exploration.

Recent advances on anticancer and antimicrobial activities of directly-fluorinated five-membered heterocycles and their benzo-fused systems

Due to the importance of the fluorinated heterocycles as main components of marketed drugs where 20% of the anticancer and antibiotic drugs contain fluorine atoms, this review describes the reported five-membered heterocycles and their benzo-fused systems having directly connected fluorine atom(s). The in vivo and in vitro anticancer and antimicrobial activities of these fluorinated heterocycles are well reported. Some fluorinated heterocycles were found to be lead structures for drug design developments where their activities were almost equal to or exceeded the potency of the reference drugs. In most cases, the fluorine-containing heterocycles showed promising safety index via their reduced cytotoxicity in non-cancerous cell lines. SAR study assigned that fluorinated heterocycles having various electron-donating or electron-withdrawing substituents significantly affected the anticancer and antimicrobial activities.

Indole-Containing Metal Complexes and Their Medicinal Applications

Indole is an important element of many natural and synthetic molecules with significant biological activity. Nonetheless, the co-presence of transitional metals in organic scaffold may represent an important factor in the development of effective medicinal agents. This review covers some of the latest and most relevant achievements in the biological and pharmacological activity of important indole-containing metal complexes in the area of drug discovery.

A Review on Indole-triazole Molecular Hybrids as a Leading Edge in Drug Discovery: Current Landscape and Future Perspectives

Molecular hybridization is a rational design strategy used to create new ligands or prototypes by identifying and combining specific pharmacophoric subunits from the molecular structures of two or more known bioactive derivatives. Molecular hybridization is a valuable technique in drug discovery, enabling the modulation of unwanted side effects and the creation of potential dual-acting drugs that combine the effects of multiple therapeutic agents. Indole-triazole conjugates have emerged as promising candidates for new drug development. The indole and triazole moieties can be linked through various synthetic strategies, such as click chemistry or other coupling reactions, to generate a library of diverse compounds for biological screening. The achievable structural diversity with indole-triazole conjugates offers avenues to optimize their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic attributes, amplifying their therapeutic efficacy. Researchers have extensively tailored both indole and triazole frameworks with diverse modifications to comprehend their impact on the drug's pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics. The current review article endeavours to explore and discuss various research strategies to design indoletriazole hybrids and elucidate their significance in a variety of pathological conditions. The insights provided herein are anticipated to be beneficial for the researchers and will likely encourage further exploration in this field.

Novel 3-(pyrazol-4-yl)-2-(1H-indole-3-carbonyl)acrylonitrile derivatives induce intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic death mediated P53 in HCT116 colon carcinoma

A novel series of α-cyano indolylchalcones was prepared, and their chemical structures were confirmed based on the different spectral data. Among them, compound 7f was observed to be the most effective bioactive chalcone with distinguished potency and selectivity against colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) with IC50 value (6.76 µg/mL) relative to the positive control (5 FU) (77.15 µg/mL). In a preliminary action study, the acrylonitrile chalcone 7f was found to enhance apoptotic action via different mechanisms like inhibition of some anti-apoptotic protein expression, regulation of some apoptotic proteins, production of caspases, and cell cycle arrest. All mechanisms suggested that compound 7f could act as a professional chemotherapeutic agent. Also, a molecular docking study was achieved on some selected proteins implicated in cancer (Caspase 9, XIAP, P53 mutant Y220C, and MDM2) which showed variable interactions with compound 7f with good Gibbs free energy scores.

Synthesis of new class of indole acetic acid sulfonate derivatives as ectonucleotidases inhibitors

Ectonucleotidases inhibitors (ENPPs, e5'NT (CD73) and h-TNAP) are potential therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cancer. Adenosine, the cancer-developing, and growth moiety is the resultant product of these enzymes. The synthesis of small molecules that can increase the acidic and ionizable structure of adenosine 5-monophosphate (AMP) has been used in traditional attempts to inhibit ENPPs, ecto-5'-nucleotidase and h-TNAP. In this article, we present a short and interesting method for developing substituted indole acetic acid sulfonate derivatives (5a-5o), which are non-nucleotide based small molecules, and investigated their inhibitory potential against recombinant h-ENPP1, h-ENPP3, h-TNAP, h-e5'NT and r-e5'NT. Their overexpression in the tumor environment leads to high adenosine level that results in tumor development as well as immune evasion. Therefore, selective, and potent inhibitors of these enzymes would be expected to decrease adenosine levels and manage tumor development and progression. Our intended outcome led to the discovery of new potent inhibitors like' 5e (IC50 against h-ENPP1 = 0.32 ± 0.01 μM, 58 folds increased with respect to suramin), 5j (IC50 against h-ENPP3 = 0.62 ± 0.003 μM, 21 folds increase with respect to suramin), 5c (IC50 against h-e5'NT = 0.37 ± 0.03 μM, 115 folds increase with respect to sulfamic acid), 5i (IC50 against r-e5'NT = 0.81 ± 0.05 μM, 95 folds increase with respect to sulfamic acid), and 5g (IC50 against h-TNAP = 0.59 ± 0.08 μM, 36 folds increase with respect to Levamisole). Molecular docking studies revealed that inhibitors of these selected target enzymes induced favorable interactions with the key amino acids of the active site, including Lys255, Lys278, Asn277, Gly533, Lys528, Tyr451, Phe257, Tyr340, Gln465, Gln434, Lys437, Glu830, Cys818, Asn499, Arg40, Phe417, Phe500, Asn503, Asn599, Tyr281, Arg397, Asp526, Phe419 and Tyr502. Enzyme kinetic studies revealed that potent compounds such as 5j and 5e blocked these ectonucleotidases competitively while compounds 5e and 5c presented an un-competitive binding mode. 5g revealed a non-competitive mode of inhibition.

Chemistry of 3-cyanoacetyl indoles: synthesis, reactions and applications: a recent update

Indole is a significant nitrogen-based heterocycle with particular importance in the synthesis of heterocyclic scaffolds. Indole based compounds have been recently attracting much attention due to their biological and pharmaceutical activities. 3-Substituted indoles such as cyanoacetyl indoles (CAIs) are nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds which are easily obtained from the reaction of indoles and cyanoacetic acid. They are versatile starting materials utilized for the construction of a wide variety of molecules containing indole moieties in organic synthesis. In this study, we provide an overview on the synthesis of 3-cyanoacetyl indoles (CAIs) and their recent applications in the multi-component reactions for the synthesis of various heterocyclic compounds such as pyranes, pyridines, dihydropyridines, pyrimidines, tetrahydropyrimidines, pyrazoles, pyrazolopyridines, pyrazolopyrimidines, pyridopyrimidines, tetrazolopyrimidines, triazolopyrimidines, furans, dihydrofurans, coumarins, pyrimido naphthyridines, chromenes, thiazoles, pyrimidoindazoles, pyrazoloquinolines, isoxazolopyridines, and carbazoles and their biological activities during the period of 2013 to 2022.

Advances in the Synthesis of Heteroaromatic Hybrid Chalcones

Chalcones continue to occupy a venerated status as scaffolds for the construction of a variety of heterocyclic molecules with medicinal and industrial properties. Syntheses of hybrid chalcones featuring heteroaromatic components, especially those methods utilizing green chemistry principles, are important additions to the preparative methodologies for this valuable class of molecules. This review outlines the advances made in the last few decades toward the incorporation of heteroaromatic components in the construction of hybrid chalcones and highlights examples of environmentally responsible processes employed in their preparation.

Chalcones: Promising therapeutic agents targeting key players and signaling pathways regulating the hallmarks of cancer

The need for innovative anticancer treatments with high effectiveness and low toxicity is urgent due to the development of malignancies that are resistant to chemotherapeutic agents and the poor specificity of existing anticancer treatments. Chalcones are 1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones, which are the precursors for flavonoids and isoflavonoids. Chalcones are readily available from a wide range of natural resources and consist of very basic chemical scaffolds. Because the ease with which the synthesis it allows for the production of several chalcone derivatives. Various in-vitro and in-vivo studies indicate that naturally occurring and synthetic chalcone derivatives exhibit promising biological activities against cancer hallmarks such as proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, inflammation, stemness, and regulation of cancer epigenetics. According to their structure and functional groups, chalcones derivatives and their hybrid compounds exert a broad range of biological activities through targeting key elements and signaling molecules relevant to cancer progression. This review will provide valuable insights into the latest updates of chalcone groups as anticancer agents and extensively discuss their underlying molecular mechanisms of action.

Boron Trifluoride Etherate Promoted Regioselective 3-Acylation of Indoles with Anhydrides

An efficient, high-yielding and scalable procedure for the regioselective 3-acylation of indoles with anhydrides promoted by boron trifluoride etherate under mild conditions was reported. This novel protocol provided a simple way to prepare 3-(benzofuran-2-yl) indole in three steps.

Chalcone: A Promising Bioactive Scaffold in Medicinal Chemistry

Chalcones are a class of privileged scaffolds with high medicinal significance due to the presence of an α,β-unsaturated ketone functionality. Numerous functional modifications of chalcones have been reported, along with their pharmacological behavior. The present review aims to summarize the structures from natural sources, synthesis methods, biological characteristics against infectious and non-infectious diseases, and uses of chalcones over the past decade, and their structure–activity relationship studies are detailed in depth. This critical review provides guidelines for the future design and synthesis of various chalcones. In addition, this could be highly supportive for medicinal chemists to develop more promising candidates for various infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Concept of Hybrid Drugs and Recent Advancements in Anticancer Hybrids

Cancer is a complex disease, and its treatment is a big challenge, with variable efficacy of conventional anticancer drugs. A two-drug cocktail hybrid approach is a potential strategy in recent drug discovery that involves the combination of two drug pharmacophores into a single molecule. The hybrid molecule acts through distinct modes of action on several targets at a given time with more efficacy and less susceptibility to resistance. Thus, there is a huge scope for using hybrid compounds to tackle the present difficulties in cancer medicine. Recent work has applied this technique to uncover some interesting molecules with substantial anticancer properties. In this study, we report data on numerous promising hybrid anti-proliferative/anti-tumor agents developed over the previous 10 years (2011–2021). It includes quinazoline, indole, carbazole, pyrimidine, quinoline, quinone, imidazole, selenium, platinum, hydroxamic acid, ferrocene, curcumin, triazole, benzimidazole, isatin, pyrrolo benzodiazepine (PBD), chalcone, coumarin, nitrogen mustard, pyrazole, and pyridine-based anticancer hybrids produced via molecular hybridization techniques. Overall, this review offers a clear indication of the potential benefits of merging pharmacophoric subunits from multiple different known chemical prototypes to produce more potent and precise hybrid compounds. This provides valuable knowledge for researchers working on complex diseases such as cancer.

Target-based anticancer indole derivatives and insight into structure‒activity relationship: A mechanistic review update (2018‒2021)

Cancer, which is the uncontrolled growth of cells, is the second leading cause of death after heart disease. Targeting drugs, especially to specific genes and proteins involved in growth and survival of cancer cells, is the prime need of research world-wide. Indole moiety, which is a combination of aromatic-heterocyclic compounds, is a constructive scaffold for the development of novel leads. Owing to its bioavailability, high unique chemical properties and significant pharmacological behaviours, indole is considered as the most inquisitive scaffold for anticancer drug research. This is illustrated by the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved several indole-based anticancer agents such as panobinostat, alectinib, sunitinib, osimertinib, anlotinib and nintedanib for clinical use. Furthermore, hundreds of studies on the synthesis and activity of the indole ring have been published in the last three years. Taking into account the facts stated above, we have presented the most recent advances in medicinal chemistry of indole derivatives, encompassing hot articles published between 2018 and 2021 in anticancer drug research. The recent advances made towards the synthesis of promising indole-based anticancer compounds that may act via various targets such as topoisomerase, tubulin, apoptosis, aromatase, kinases, etc., have been discussed. This review also summarizes some of the recent efficient green chemical synthesis for indole rings using various catalysts for the period during 2018–2021. The review also covers the synthesis, structure‒activity relationship, and mechanism by which these leads have demonstrated improved and promising anticancer activity. Indole molecules under clinical and preclinical stages are classified into groups based on their cancer targets and presented in tabular form, along with their mechanism of action. The goal of this review article is to point the way for medicinal chemists to design and develop effective indole-based anticancer agents.

Synthesis and photobiological applications of naphthalimide-benzothiazole conjugates: cytotoxicity and topoisomerase IIα inhibition

Conjugates of naphthalimide, benzothiazole, and indole moieties are synthesized that show excellent cytotoxicity against A549 (lung), MCF7 (breast), and HeLa (cervix) cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values in the range of 0.14–8.59 μM. Compounds 12 and 13 substituted with ethanolamine and propargyl groups reveal potent cytotoxicity towards A549 cancer cells with IC₅₀ values of 140 and 310 nM, respectively. These compounds are further evaluated as potent inhibitors of human type IIα topoisomerase. These conjugates also reveal strong interaction towards human serum albumin (HSA) with binding constant values of 1.75 × 10⁵ M⁻¹ and 1.88 × 10⁵ M⁻¹, respectively, and formation of the stable complex at ground state with static quenching. Docking studies also confirm the effective interactions between conjugates and topoisomerase.

Conjugates of naphthalimide, benzothiazole, and indole moieties are synthesized that show excellent cytotoxicity against A549 (lung), MCF7 (breast), and HeLa (cervix) cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ values in the range of 0.14–8.59 μM.

Synthetically-tailored and nature-derived dual COX-2/5-LOX inhibitors: Structural aspects and SAR

Inflammation is a most complex pathological process that gives birth to different diseases. Different inflammatory mediators are released during an inflammation responsible for acute pain and chronic inflammatory diseases like cancer, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. The arachidonic acid pathway, which results in the production of inflammatory mediators, provides several targets for anti-inflammatory intervention. The most popularly used medications for inflammation are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) but it has some limitations, in particular traditional NSAIDs which inhibit the COX pathway non-selectively, producing gastrointestinal side effects, and other adverse effects like stroke and renal failure. On the other hand, selective COX-2 inhibitors commonly known as 'coxibs' produce cardiovascular side effects. Frequent inhibition of either cyclooxygenase or lipoxygenase enzyme switches the metabolism of arachidonic acid from one to another which could lead to serious consequences. Therefore, a need to develop novel, effective and safe anti-inflammatory agents which can inhibit the release of both prostaglandins and leukotrienes from the respective cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways has emerged. This resulted in the discovery of new anti-inflammatory agents derived from natural and synthetic sources as dual COX-2/5-LOX inhibitors. To further contribute towards the discovery in this field, we have attempted to summarize structural features and pharmacological activities of heterocyclic scaffolds and natural products explored as dual COX-2/5-LOX inhibitors. We have emphasized the designing of the dual inhibitors inspired by the previously reported COX-2 and 5-LOX inhibitors. This outline could render us to identify the best pharmacophores catering to dual COX-2/5-LOX inhibitory activity while improving their efficiency as anti-inflammatory agents.

Indole derivatives (2010-2020) as versatile tubulin inhibitors: synthesis and structure-activity relationships

Tubulin inhibitors are conjugates that interfere with the dynamic equilibrium of the polymerization and depolymerization of microtubules. Among all the reported conjugates, indole moiety is one of the most significant classes for the development of new drug candidates for cancer therapy. Due to their presence in a wide range of natural as well as synthetic antitubulin agents, indole has become a versatile scaffold in research, and various synthetic and semisynthetic indole-based antitubulin agents have been identified and reported. The present article focuses on the reported indole-based tubulin inhibitors of synthetic origin from last the decade. Synthesis, structure-activity relationships and biological activities of synthetic indole derivatives along with brief updates on their antitubulin activity are presented.

Indole Alkaloids, Synthetic Dimers and Hybrids with Potential In Vivo Anticancer Activity

Indole, a heterocyclic organic compound, is one of the most promising heterocycles found in natural and synthetic sources since its derivatives possess fascinating structural diversity and various therapeutic properties. Indole alkaloids, synthetic dimers and hybrids could act on diverse targets in cancer cells, and consequently, possess potential antiproliferative effects on various cancers both in vitro and in vivo. Vinblastine, midostaurin, and anlotinib as the representative of indole alkaloids, synthetic dimers and hybrids respectively, have already been clinically applied to treat many types of cancers, demonstrating indole alkaloids, synthetic dimers and hybrids are useful scaffolds for the development of novel anticancer agents. Covering articles published between 2010 and 2020, this review emphasizes the recent development of indole alkaloids, synthetic dimers and hybrids with potential in vivo therapeutic application for cancers.

Blue LED-Mediated N-H Insertion of Indoles into Aryldiazoesters at Room Temperature in Batch and Flow: Reaction Kinetics, Density Functional Theory, and Mechanistic Study

Mild blue light-mediated N-H insertion of indole and its derivatives into aryldiazoesters has been reported in a batch and flow strategy to afford the corresponding N-alkylated product in moderate-to-excellent yield. Detailed high-performance liquid chromatography-based reaction kinetics measurements, control experiments, and kinetic isotope effect reveal that 3-substituted indoles with electron-withdrawing groups such as -CN and -CHO facilitated the product formation, whereas the electron-donating group retarded the process. The neutral indole performed in between them. Furthermore, Hammett plot and density functional theory-based transition-state optimization studies showed substantial correlation of the electronic nature of the substituents at the C3 position of indoles with the rate of the N-H insertion reaction. The strategy was utilized to synthesize a key intermediate for the natural product (-)-psychotrimine.

Have molecular hybrids delivered effective anti-cancer treatments and what should future drug discovery focus on?

INTRODUCTION

Cancer continues to be a big threat and its treatment is a huge challenge among the medical fraternity. Conventional anti-cancer agents are losing their efficiency which highlights the need to introduce new anti-cancer entities for treating this complex disease. A hybrid molecule has a tendency to act through varied modes of action on multiple targets at a given time. Thus, there is the significant scope with hybrid compounds to tackle the existing limitations of cancer chemotherapy.

AREA COVERED

This perspective describes the most significant hybrids that spring hope in the field of cancer chemotherapy. Several hybrids with anti-proliferative/anti-tumor properties currently approved or in clinical development are outlined, along with a description of their mechanism of action and identified drug targets.

EXPERT OPINION

The success of molecular hybridization in cancer chemotherapy is quite evident by the number of molecules entering into clinical trials and/or have entered the drug market over the past decade. Indeed, the recent advancements and co-ordinations in the interface between chemistry, biology, and pharmacology will help further the advancement of hybrid chemotherapeutics in the future.List of abbreviations: Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA; national cancer institute, NCI; peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMC; food and drug administration, FDA; histone deacetylase, HDAC; epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR; vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, VEGFR; suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, SAHA; farnesyltransferase inhibitor, FTI; adenosine triphosphate, ATP; Tamoxifen, TAM; selective estrogen receptor modulator, SERM; structure activity relationship, SAR; estrogen receptor, ER; lethal dose, LD; half maximal growth inhibitory concentration, GI₅₀; half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC₅₀.

Novel 3-(3, 5-difluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-(naphthalen-2-yl) prop-2-en-1-one as a potent inhibitor of MAP-kinase in HeLa cell lines and anti-angiogenic activity is mediated by HIF-1α in EAC animal model

In the present investigation, we synthesized chalcone bearing naphthalene compound d1, and on the basis of ¹H-NMR, ¹³C NMR, and LC-MS data we had specified the structure of the synthesized compound. The resultant compound d1 was assessed for their antiproliferative action against human cancer cell lines (HeLa, HCT116, HT29, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and SKBR3). The IC₅₀ range was estimated at 5.58 to 11.13 μM shows that compound d1 had remarkable anticancer activity on HeLa cell lines. Besides, it was discovered that d1 incited the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by controlling Bax and Bcl-2 transcripts by expanding the Caspase 3 activation. We depicted the in-vivo effects of tumor advancement and the antiangiogenic activity of d1 in the EAC animal model. Tumor growth had inhibited and without symptoms the longevity of EAC containing mice expanded by the treatment of d1. Inhibition of nuclear transcriptional factor HIF-1α in EAC cells and finally it also inhibited phosphorylation of downstream signaling proteins such as ERK_1/2, p38, and JNK in HeLa cells. The present investigation uncovered that d1 indicated noteworthy tumor-repressing abilities much less concentration in in-vitro and in-vivo recommended that compound d1 as the potent anticancer medication.

Chalcone hybrids as potential anticancer agents: Current development, mechanism of action, and structure-activity relationship

The continuous emergency of drug-resistant cancers and the low specificity of anticancer agents have been the major challenges in the control and treatment of cancer, making an urgent need to develop novel anticancer agents with high efficacy. Chalcones, precursors of flavonoids and isoflavonoids, exhibit structural heterogeneity and can act on various drug targets. Chalcones which demonstrated potential in vitro and in vivo activity against both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant cancers, are useful templates for the development of novel anticancer agents. Hybridization of chalcone moiety with other anticancer pharmacophores could provide the hybrids which have the potential to overcome drug resistance and improve the specificity, so it represents a promising strategy to develop novel anticancer agents. This review emphasizes the development, the mechanisms of action as well as structure-activity relationships of chalcone hybrids with potential therapeutic application for many cancers in recent 10 years.

Medicinal chemistry of indole derivatives: Current to future therapeutic prospectives

Indole is a versatile pharmacophore, a privileged scaffold and an outstanding heterocyclic compound with wide ranges of pharmacological activities due to different mechanisms of action. It is an superlative moiety in drug discovery with the sole property of resembling different structures of the protein. Plenty of research has been taking place in recent years to synthesize and explore the various therapeutic prospectives of this moiety. This review summarizes some of the recent effective chemical synthesis (2014-2018) for indole ring. This review also emphasized on the structure-activity relationship (SAR) to reveal the active pharmacophores of various indole analogues accountable for anticancer, anticonvulsant, antimicrobial, antitubercular, antimalarial, antiviral, antidiabetic and other miscellaneous activities which have been investigated in the last five years. The precise features with motives and framework of each research topic is introduced for helping the medicinal chemists to understand the perspective of the context in a better way. This review will definitely offer the platform for researchers to strategically design diverse novel indole derivatives having different promising pharmacological activities with reduced toxicity and side effects.

Recent advances in microtubule-stabilizing agents

Highly dynamic mitotic spindle microtubules are superb therapeutic targets for a group of chemically diverse and clinically successful anticancer drugs. Microtubule-targeted drugs disrupt microtubule dynamics in distinct ways, and they are primarily classified into two groups: microtubule destabilizing agents (MDAs), such as vinblastine, colchicine, and combretastatin-A4, and microtubule stabilizing agents (MSAs), such as paclitaxel and epothilones. Systematic discovery and development of new MSAs have been aided by extensive research on paclitaxel, yielding a large number of promising anticancer compounds. This review focuses on the natural sources, structural features, mechanisms of action, structure-activity relationship (SAR) and chemical synthesis of MSAs. These MSAs mainly include paclitaxel, taccalonolides, epothilones, FR182877 (cyclostreptin), dictyostatin, discodermolide, eleutherobin and sarcodictyins, zampanolide, dactylolide, laulimalides, peloruside and ceratamines from natural sources, as well as small molecular microtubule stabilizers obtained via chemical synthesis. Then we discuss the application prospect and development of these anticancer compounds.

Azide-alkyne cycloaddition en route to 4-aminoquinoline-ferrocenylchalcone conjugates: synthesis and anti-TB evaluation

AIM

Tuberculosis is responsible for 9.6 million infections and 1.5 million deaths in 2015. The development of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains has impeded the development of effective antitubercular therapy. Results/methodology: The present manuscript describes the synthesis of a series of 4-aminoquinoline-ferrocenylchalcone conjugates via Cu-promoted Huisgen's azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction and evaluation of their antitubercular activities against mc²6230 strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The conjugate 11j proved to be the most potent of the synthesized conjugates with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC₉₉) value of 30 μM and proved to be noncytotoxic against HeLa cells.

CONCLUSION

The synthesized conjugates can act as starting point for the development of new antitubercular agents. Synthesis and antitubercular evaluation of 1H-1,2,3-triazole-tethered 4-aminoquinoline-ferrocenylchalcone conjugates. [Formula: see text].

Novel indolyl-chalcone derivatives inhibit A549 lung cancer cell growth through activating Nrf-2/HO-1 and inducing apoptosis in vitro and in vivo

Increasing evidence indicates that Nrf-2, named the nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor, may perform anticancer function. In this study, a series of novel substituted phenyl- (3-methyl-1H-indol-2-yl)-prop-2-en-1-one (indolyl-chalcone) derivatives were synthesized and their effects on Nrf-2 activity were observed. We found that compounds 3a-3d and 6c elevated Nrf-2 activity. Then we evaluated their anticancer activities in vitro and in vivo by utilizing human lung cancer cell line A549. The in vitro results showed that among the compounds, 3d performed effectively anti-growth activity by inducing A549 lung cancer cell apoptosis and activating Nrf-2/HO-1 (heme oxygenase-1) pathway. In vivo, we proved that compound 3d inhibited the tumor growth effectively through inducing cell apoptosis without affecting CAM normal angiogenesis. These data suggest that our discovery of a novel Nrf-2 activator compound 3d would provide a new point of human lung cancer treatment.

The crystal structures of two chalcones: (2E)-1-(5-chloro-thio-phen-2-yl)-3-(2-methyl-phen-yl)prop-2-en-1-one and (2E)-1-(anthracen-9-yl)-3-[4-(propan-2-yl)phen-yl]prop-2-en-1-one

In the crystal of compound (I), C14H11ClOS, mol-ecules are linked by C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form simple C(5) chains. Compound (II), C26H22O, crystallizes with Z' = 2 in space group P-1; one of the mol-ecules is fully ordered but the other is disordered over two sets of atomic sites having occupancies 0.644 (3) and 0.356 (3). The two disordered components differ from one another in the orientation of the isopropyl substituents, and both differ from the ordered mol-ecules in the arrangement of the central propenone spacer unit, so that the crystal of (II) contains three distinct conformers. The ordered and disordered conformers each form a C(8) chain built from a single type of C-H⋯O hydrogen bond but those formed by the disordered conformers differ from that formed by the ordered form.

Chalcone Scaffold in Anticancer Armamentarium: A Molecular Insight

Cancer is an inevitable matter of concern in the medicinal chemistry era. Chalcone is the well exploited scaffold in the anticancer domain. The molecular mechanism of chalcone at cellular level was explored in past decades. This mini review provides the most recent updates on anticancer potential of chalcones.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel carbazolyl glyoxamides as anticancer and antibacterial agents

A new library of 24 carbazolyl glyoxamides14a–xwere designed and synthesized from glyoxalic acids and arylamines in the presence of HATU as a coupling reagent under MW irradiation.

2-(3'-Indolyl)-N-arylthiazole-4-carboxamides: Synthesis and evaluation of antibacterial and anticancer activities

A new series of 2-(3'-indolyl)-N-arylthiazole-4-carboxamides 17a-p has been designed and synthesized. Initial reaction of readily available thioamides 15 with bromopyruvic acid under refluxing conditions produced different thiazole carboxylic acids 16 which upon coupling with arylamines by using EDCI·HCl and HOBt afforded diverse arylthiazole-4-carboxamides 17a-p in 78-87% yields. Antibacterial activity evaluation against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains led to compounds 17i-k and 17o as potent and selectively (Gram-negative) antibacterial agents. The cytotoxicity of thiazole carboxamides 17a-p was also evaluated on a panel of human cancer cell lines. Among the tested derivatives, compounds 17i (IC50=8.64μM; HEK293T) and 17l (IC50=3.41μM; HeLa) were identified as the most potent analogues of the series. Preliminary mechanism of action studies of thiazole carboxamide 17i suggested that its cytotoxicity against HeLa cells involves the induction of cell death by apoptosis.

Design and synthesis of pyrazole/isoxazole linked arylcinnamides as tubulin polymerization inhibitors and potential antiproliferative agents

A series of pyrazole/isoxazole linked arylcinnamide conjugates were synthesized and investigated for their cytotoxic activity against a panel of four human cancer cell lines. Most of them have shown significant cytotoxicity apart from potential tubulin depolymerization activity.