A number of pre-designed benzoxepine-1,2,3-triazole hybrids were synthesized for the first time using a Cu-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) strategy. Thus, a remarkably rapid click reaction of 7,9-disubstituted (Z)-4-(azidomethyl)-5-chloro-2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]oxepine with terminal alkynes at room temperature in DMF afforded twenty novel (Z)-1-((5-chloro-2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]oxepin-4-yl)methyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives in good to excellent yields. All these compounds were tested for their antibacterial properties against four strains of bacterial microorganisms including two Gram-positive and two Gram-negative species. Some of them showed better activity against Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) over the Gram-positive strains, indicating the special effectiveness of the present class of compounds towards Gram-negative species. These compounds also showed cytotoxicity against lung and colon cancer cell lines.

Acridone based synthetic and natural products with inherent anticancer activity advancing the research and generating a large number of structurally diversified compounds. In this sequence we have designed, synthesized a series of tetracyclic acridones with amide framework viz., 3-(alkyloyl/ aryloyl/ heteroaryloyl/ heteroaryl)-2,3-dihydropyrazino[3,2,1-de]acridin-7(1H)-ones and screened for their in vitro anti-cancer activity. The in vitro study revealed that compounds with cyclopropyl-acetyl, benzoyl, p-hydroxybenzoyl, p-(trifluoromethyl)benzoyl, p-fluorobenzoyl, m-fluorobenzoyl, picolinoyl, 6-methylpicolinoyl and 3-nicotinoyl groups are active against HT29, MDAMB231 and HEK293T cancer cell lines. The molecular docking studies performed for them against 4N5Y, HT29 and 2VWD revealed the potential ligand–protein binding interactions among the neutral aminoacid of the enzymes and carbonyl groups of the title compounds with a binding energy ranging from − 8.1394 to − 6.9915 kcal/mol. In addition, the BSA protein binding assay performed for them has confirmed their interaction with target proteins through strong binding to BSA macromolecule. The additional studies like ADMET, QSAR, bioactivity scores, drug properties and toxicity risks ascertained them as newer drug candidates. This study had added a new collection of piperazino fused acridone derivatives to the existing array of other nitrogen heterocyclic fused acridone derivatives as anticancer agents.