Synthesis, cytotoxicity and mechanistic evaluation of 4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide derivatives: finding new potential anticancer drugs

Naphthoquinone-Quinolone Hybrids with Antitumor Effects on Breast Cancer Cell Lines-From the Synthesis to 3D-Cell Culture Effects

Breast cancer stands as one of the foremost cause of cancer-related deaths globally, characterized by its varied molecular subtypes. Each subtype requires a distinct therapeutic strategy. Although advancements in treatment have enhanced patient outcomes, significant hurdles remain, including treatment toxicity and restricted effectiveness. Here, we explore the anticancer potential of novel 1,4-naphthoquinone/4-quinolone hybrids on breast cancer cell lines. The synthesized compounds demonstrated selective cytotoxicity against Luminal and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, which represent the two main molecular types of breast cancer that depend most on cytotoxic chemotherapy, with potency comparable to doxorubicin, a standard chemotherapeutic widely used in breast cancer treatment. Notably, these derivatives exhibited superior selectivity indices (SI) when compared to doxorubicin, indicating lower toxicity towards non-tumor MCF10A cells. Compounds 11a and 11b displayed an improvement in IC50 values when compared to their precursor, 1,4-naphthoquinone, for both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 and a comparable value to doxorubicin for MCF-7 cells. Also, their SI values were superior to those seen for the two reference compounds for both cell lines tested. Mechanistic studies revealed the ability of the compounds to induce apoptosis and inhibit clonogenic potential. Additionally, the irreversibility of their effects on cell viability underscores their promising therapeutic utility. In 3D-cell culture models, the compounds induced morphological changes indicative of reduced viability, supporting their efficacy in a more physiologically relevant model of study. The pharmacokinetics of the synthesized compounds were predicted using the SwissADME webserver, indicating that these compounds exhibit favorable drug-likeness properties and potential as antitumor agents. Overall, our findings underscore the promise of these hybrid compounds as potential candidates for breast cancer chemotherapy, emphasizing their selectivity and efficacy.

A green and efficient synthetic methodology towards the synthesis of 1-allyl-6-chloro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide derivatives

Quinolone is a privileged scaffold in medicinal chemistry and 4-Quinolone-3-Carboxamides have been reported to harbor vast therapeutic potential. However, conversion of N-1 substituted 4-Quinolone 3-Carboxylate to its corresponding carbamates is highly restrictive. This motivated us to adopt a much simpler, scalable and efficient methodology for the synthesis of highly pure N-1 substituted 4- Quinolone-3-Carboxamides with excellent yields. Our adopted methodology not only provides a robust pathway for the convenient synthesis of N-1 substituted 4- Quinolone-3-Carboxamides which can then be explored for their therapeutic potential, this may also be adaptable for the derivatization of other such less reactive carboxylate species.

Novel synthetic procedures for C2 substituted imidazoquinolines as ligands for the α/β-interface of the GABAA-receptor

A series of substituted imidazoquinolines, a structurally related chemotype to pyrazoloquinolinones, a well-known class of GABAA ligands, was prepared via two synthetic procedures and the efficiency of these procedures were compared. One method relies on classical heterocyclic synthesis, the other one aims at late-stage decoration of a truncated scaffold via direct C-H functionalization. A pharmacological evaluation disclosed that one of the synthesized derivatives showed interesting activity on a α1β3 containing receptor subtype.

Graphical abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00706-022-02988-8.

Antiviral activity of 4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxamide derivatives against bovine herpesvirus type 5

BACKGROUND

Bovine herpesvirus type 5 is an important agent of meningoencephalitis in cattle and has been identified in outbreaks of bovine neurological disease in several Brazilian states. In recent years, oxoquinoline derivatives have become an important focus in antiviral drug research.

METHODS

The cytotoxicity and anti BoHV-5RJ42/01 activity of a set of synthetic 4-oxoquinoline derivatives 4a-k were assayed on Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney cell and antiviral activity by plaque reduction assay.

RESULTS

The most promising substance (4h) exhibited CC₅₀ and EC₅₀ values of 1,239 µM ±5.5 and 6.0 µM ±1.5, respectively, with an SI =206. Two other compounds 4j (CC₅₀ = 35 µM ±2 and EC₅₀ = 24 µM ±7.0) and 4k (CC₅₀= 55 µM ±2 and EC₅₀ = 24 µM ±5.1) presented similar inhibitory profile and selectivity indexes of 1.4 and 2.9, respectively. The results of the time-of-addition studies revealed expressive reduction of virus production (≥80%) in different stages of virus replication cycle except for compound 4h that slightly inhibited virus yield in the first 2 h post infection, but it showed expressive virus inhibition after this time.

CONCLUSIONS

All three compounds slightly interact with the virus on the virucidal assay and they are not able to block virus attachment and penetration. Antiviral effect of oxoquinoline 4h was more prominent than acyclovir which leads us to suggest compound 4h as a promising molecule for further anti-BoHV-5 drug design.

Study on the regioselectivity of the N-ethylation reaction of N-benzyl-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide

4-Oxoquinolines are a class of organic substances of great importance in medicinal chemistry, due to their biological and synthetic versatility. N-1-Alkylated-4-oxoquinoline derivatives have been associated with different pharmacological activities such as antibacterial and antiviral. The presence of a carboxamide unit connected to carbon C-3 of the 4-oxoquinoline core has been associated with various biological activities. Experimentally, the N-ethylation reaction of N-benzyl-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide occurs at the nitrogen of the oxoquinoline group, in a regiosselective way. In this work, we employed DFT methods to investigate the regiosselective ethylation reaction of N-benzyl-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxamide, evaluating its acid/base behavior and possible reaction paths.