Molecular iodine has established itself as a readily available and easy-to-handle electrophilic and oxidizing reagent used in various organic transformations. In this review attention is focused on the use of molecular iodine in promoting cyclization (iodocyclization and cyclodehydroiodination) of tethered heteroatom-containing alkenyl or alkynyl systems.

Prompted by the scant attention paid by published literature reviews to the applications of molecular iodine in oxidative aromatization reactions, we decided to review methods developed to-date involving iodine as an oxidant to promote aromatization of α,β-unsaturated cyclic compounds.

A series of 2-arylbenzo[c]furan-chalcone hybrids 3a–y have been synthesized and evaluated for antiproliferative effects against the human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line and for its potential to induce apoptosis and also to inhibit tubulin polymerization and/or epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) phosphorylation. Most of these compounds exhibited moderate to significant antigrowth effects in vitro against the MCF-7 cell line when compared to the reference standard actinomycin D. The capabilities of the most cytotoxic benzofuran-chalcone hybrids 3b and 3i, to induce apoptosis, have been evaluated by Annexin V-Cy3 SYTOX staining and caspase-3 activation. The experimental and molecular docking results suggest that the title compounds have the potential to exhibit inhibitory effects against tubulin polymerization and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) phosphorylation. The modeled structures of representative compounds displayed hydrophobic interactions as well as hydrogen and/or halogen bonding with the protein residues. These interactions are probably responsible for the observed increased binding affinity for the two receptors and their significant antigrowth effect against the MCF-7 cell line.