Design and synthesis of 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-N-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) acrylamide derivatives as anticancer agents.
Ghafouri Seyedeh Niloufar SN, Ranjbar Parviz Rashidi PR, Mahdavi Mohammad M, Iraji Aida A
In this study, a new series of indole-based trimethoxy aniline hybrids (10a-o) was designed through a fragment-based hybridization strategy and synthesized via a multistep synthetic procedure. The cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated against human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468), hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Hep-G2), and the non-cancerous HEK-293 cell line using MTT assay. Several analogs exhibited moderate antiproliferative activity, and compound 10b, bearing an ortho-methyl substituent, emerged as the most active derivative against MCF-7. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis revealed that ortho-alkyl substituents favored selectivity toward MCF-7 cells, whereas 4-Br substitution and ethyl-alkyl extension preferentially enhanced activity against Hep-G2 cells. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that 10b primarily induced apoptotic cell death at lower concentrations and exposure times, whereas higher concentrations and prolonged treatment resulted in more necrotic cell death. Compound 10b also induced dose-dependent alterations in cell-cycle progression in MCF-7 cells, characterized by S-phase arrest.