Anticancer Indole-Based Chalcones: A Structural and Theoretical Analysis.

The crystal structures of five new chalcones derived from N-ethyl-3-acetylindole with different substituents were investigated: (E)-3-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (3a); (E)-3-(3-bromophenyl)-1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (3b); (E)-1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3c); (E)-1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-mesitylprop-2-en-1-one (3d); and (E)-1-(1-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-(furan-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (3e). The molecular packing of the studied compounds is controlled mainly by C-H⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bonds, C-H⋅⋅⋅π interactions, and π···π stacking interactions, which were quantitatively analyzed using Hirshfeld topology analysis. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the order of polarity (3b ˂ 3d ˂ 3e ˂ 3a ˂ 3c) was determined. Several chemical reactivity indices such as the ionization potential (I), electron affinity (A), chemical potential (µ), hardness (η), electrophilicity (ω) and nucleophilicity (N) indices were calculated, and these properties are discussed and compared. In addition, the antiproliferative activity of the five new chalcones was studied.

Synthesis and Inhibitory Effect of Some Indole-Pyrimidine Based Hybrid Heterocycles on α-Glucosidase and α-Amylase as Potential Hypoglycemic Agents.

The Michael addition reaction of barbituric acid with chalcones incorporating the indole scaffold was achieved by using a highly efficient bimetallic Iron-palladium catalyst in the presence of acetylacetone (acac). This catalytic approach produced the desired products in a simple operation and low catalyst loading with acceptable yield of the new hybrids. All tested compounds were subjected for biological activity on α-glucosidase and α-amylase. The results revealed that all synthesized compounds exhibited very good activity against both enzymes when compared to positive control (acarbose). Moreover, compound 5o showed the best activity whereas its IC50 (µM) are 13.02+0.01 and 21.71+0.82 for α-glucosidase and α-amylase respectively. Both compounds 5o and 5l exhibited high similarity in binding mode and pose with amylase protein (4UAC). The obtained data may be used for developing potential hypoglycemic agents.

Synthesis of Pyridine-Dicarboxamide-Cyclohexanone Derivatives: Anticancer and α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activities and In Silico Study.

An efficient and practical method for the synthesis of 2,6-diaryl-4-oxo-N,N'-di(pyridin-2-yl)cyclohexane-1,1-dicarboxamide is described in this present study, which occurs through a double Michael addition reaction between diamide and various dibenzalacetones. The reaction was carried out in dichloromethane (DCM) in the presence of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU). The anticancer activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated in several cancer cell lines, including MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SAS, PC-3, HCT-116, HuH-7 and HepG2 cells. From these experiments, we determined that MDA-MB-231 was the most sensitive cancer cell line to the compounds 3c, 3e, 3d, 3j and 3l, which exhibited variable anticancer activities (3l [IC50 = 5 ± 0.25 µM] > 3e [IC50 = 5 ± 0.5 µM] > 3c [IC50 = 7 ± 1.12 µM] > 3d [IC50 = 18 ± 0.87 µM] > 3j [IC50 = 45 ± 3 µM]). Of these, 3l (substituted p-trifluoromethylphenyl and chloropyridine) showed good potency (IC50 = 6 ± 0.78 µM) against HCT-116 colorectal cancer cells and exhibited high toxicity against HuH-7 liver cancer cells (IC50 = 4.5 ± 0.3 µM). These values were three times higher than the values reported for cisplatin (IC50 of 8 ± 0.76 and 14.7 ± 0.5 µM against HCT-116 and HuH-7 cells, respectively). The highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was detected for the 3d, 3i and 3j compounds. The details of the binding mode of the active compounds were clarified by molecular docking studies.