Facile one-pot synthesis of novel ortho-aminocarbonitriles and dicyanoanilines fused to heterocycles via pseudo four-component reactions

Recent developments using malononitrile in ultrasound-assisted multicomponent synthesis of heterocycles

Ultrasonic irradiation serves as a vigorous and environmentally sustainable approach for augmenting multicomponent reactions (MCRs), offering benefits such as thermal enhancement, agitation, and activation, among others. Malononitrile emerges as a versatile reagent in this context, participating in a myriad of MCRs to produce structurally diverse heterocyclic frameworks. This review encapsulates the critical role of malononitrile in the sonochemical multicomponent synthesis of these heterocyclic structures. The paper further delves into the biochemical and pharmacological implications of these heterocycles, elucidating their reaction mechanisms as well as delineating the method's scope and limitations. We furnish an overview of the merits and challenges inherent to this synthetic approach and offer insights for potential avenues in future research.

Four-component one-pot synthesis of novel dicyanoaniline anchored triazoles

A four-component reaction was developed by taking the advantage of the reactivity of the propargyl functional groups, residing on the primarily formed dicyanoaniline products. Various enolizable cyclic ketones were reacted with malononitrile and 4-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)benzaldehyde derivatives in an aqueous <i>t</i>-BuOH/NaOH medium, and the resulting dicyanoanilines were subjected to a subsequent in situ click reaction to afford the final dicyanoaniline-anchored-triazole products. The enhanced photophysical properties of the novel products are under current study.

Synthesis and Antioxidant Activity Evaluation of Some Novel Aminocarbonitrile Derivatives Incorporating Carbohydrate Moieties

In this study, a multicomponent reaction involving carbohydrates, β-dicarbonyl compounds, and malononitrile was disclosed to synthesize a new class of polyhydroxy compounds incorporating pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidine, pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine and chromene heterocycles under mild conditions. For the synthesis of this class of compounds, glucose, galactose, arabinose, maltose, and lactose were used as aldehyde component in the reaction with barbituric acid and malononitrile to produce pyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives. By use of 1,3-cyclohexanedione instead of barbituric acid, chromene derivatives incorporating carbohydrate moieties were obtained. Also, the four-component condensation reaction between d-glucosamine, aldehyde, malononitrile, and barbituric acid was efficiently provided polyhydroxy-substituted pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives. This new combinatorial approach gave a range of carbohydrate-derived heterocycles in good to excellent yields with high potential biological applications. The antioxidant activities were evaluated using 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) antioxidant measuring system, and the data were expressed as Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity. All of these compounds display significant antioxidant activity. The maximum and minimum antioxidant activities were observed for 4j and 6b, respectively. Our results indicated encouraging perspectives for the improvement and usage of this type of synthetic compounds, indicating significant levels of antioxidant activity.

Design, Synthesis, Anticancer Evaluation and Docking Studies of Novel Heterocyclic Derivatives Obtained via Reactions Involving Curcumin

Curcumin, a widely utilized flavor and coloring agent in food, has been shown to demonstrate powerful antioxidant, antitumor promoting and anti-inflammatory properties in vitro and in vivo. In the present work, synthesis of new heterocyclic derivatives based on Curcumin was studied. Compound 3 was synthesized via the reaction of furochromone carbaldehyde (1) with Curcumin (2) using pipredine as catalyst. Also, novel, 4,9-dimethoxy-5H-furo [3, 2-g] chromen-5-one derivatives 4a–d, 6a–d, 7, 8a–d, 9 and 10 were synthesized by the reactions of furochromone carbaldehyde (1) with different reagents (namely: appropriate amine 3a–d, appropriate hydrazine 5a–d, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, urea/thiourea, malononitrile, malononitrile with hydrazine hydrate). The structure of the synthesized products had been confirmed from their spectroscopic data (IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and mass spectra). In the present investigation, the newly synthesized products were screened using the MTT colorimetric assay for their in vitro inhibition capacity in two human cancer cell lines (hepatocellular carcinoma (HEPG2) and breast cancer (MCF-7) as well as the normal cell line (human normal melanocyte, HFB4) in comparison to the known anticancer drugs: 5-flurouracil and doxorubicin. The anticancer activity results indicated that the synthesized products 4c and 8b showed growth inhibition activity against HEPG2 cell line and synthesized products 4b and 8a showed growth inhibition activity against MCF-7, but with varying intensities in comparison to the known anticancer drugs, 5-flurouracil and doxorubicin. Cyclin dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), a major cell cycle protein, was identified as a potential molecular target of Curcumin. Furthermore, Curcumin induced G1 cell cycle arrest, which is regulated by CDK2 in cancer cells. Therefore, we used molecular modelling to study in silico the possible inhibitory effect of CDK2 by Curcumin derivatives as a possible mechanism of these compounds as anticancer agents. The molecular docking study revealed that compounds 4b, 8a and 8b were the most effective compounds in inhibiting CDk2, and, this result was in agreement with cytotoxicity assay.