Herein, fifteen new compounds containing coumarin, 1,2,3-triazole and benzoyl- substituted arylamine moieties were designed, synthesized and tested in vitro for their anticancer activity. The results showed that all tested compounds had moderate antiproliferative activity against MDA-MB-231, a human breast cancer cell line, under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, the 4-substituted coumarin linked with benzoyl 3,4-dimethoxyaniline through 1,2,3-triazole (compound 5e) displayed the most prominent antiproliferative activities with an IC₅₀ value of 0.03 μM, about 5000 times stronger than 4-hydroxycoumarin (IC₅₀ > 100 μM) and 20 times stronger than doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 0.60 μM). Meanwhile, almost all compounds revealed general enhancement of proliferation-inhibiting activity under hypoxia, contrasted with normoxia. A docking analysis showed that compound 5e had potential to inhibit carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX).

Cancer patients frequently suffer from cancer-related fatigue (CRF), which is a complex syndrome associated with weakness and depressed mood. Neuroinflammation is one of the major inducers of CRF. The aim of this study is to find a potential agent not only on the treatment of cancer, but also for reducing CRF level of cancer patients. In this study, total-thirty new Dihydroartemisinin–Coumarin hybrids (DCH) were designed and synthesized. The in vitro cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines (HT-29, MDA-MB-231, HCT-116, and A549) was evaluated. Simultaneously, we also tested the anti-neuroinflammatory activity of DCH. DCH could inhibit the activated microglia N9 release of NO, TNF-α, and IL-6. The docking analysis was shown that MD-2, the coreceptor of TLR4, might be one of the targets of DCH.