An Overview of Privileged Scaffold: Quinolines and Isoquinolines in Medicinal Chemistry as Anticancer Agents

Cancer is one of the most difficult diseases and causes of death for many decades. Many pieces of research are continuously going on to get a solution for cancer. Quinoline and isoquinoline derivatives have shown their possibilities to work as an antitumor agent in anticancer treatment. The members of this privileged scaffold quinoline and isoquinoline have shown their controlling impacts on cancer treatment through various modes. In particular, this review suggests the current scenario of quinoline and isoquinoline derivatives as antitumor agents and refine the path of these derivatives to find and develop new drugs against an evil known as cancer.

Novel polycarbo-substituted alkyl (thieno[3,2-c]quinoline)-2-carboxylates: synthesis and cytotoxicity studies

Direct one-pot base-promoted conjugate addition–elimination of 6,8-dibromo-4-chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde with methyl mercaptoacetate and subsequent cyclization afforded methyl [(6,8-dibromothieno[3,2-c]quinoline)]-2-carboxylate. The latter undergoes Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling with arylboronic acids to yield exclusively the corresponding alkyl [(6,8-diarylthieno[3,2-c]quinoline)]-2-carboxylates,. The cytotoxicity of the prepared compounds was evaluated against the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using the MTT assay. The effects of compounds 2, 3c and 4d on cell kinetics were further determined using the xCELLigence Real Time Cell Analysis (RTCA) system. In both the MTT assay and Real Time Cell Analysis, the compounds inhibited cancer cell growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, on the basis of the calculated LC₅₀ values, the compounds compared favourably with nocodazole, a well-established anticancer drug.