Novel 3-(4,6-dimethoxybenzofuran-5-yl)-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxaldehyde (3) and 3-chloro-3-(4,6-dimethoxybenzofuran-5-yl)propenal (4) were prepared via Vilsmeier–Haack reaction of 1-(4,6-dimethoxybenzofuran-5-yl)ethanone (1) and its hydrazone derivative 2. Reaction of compound 4 with some hydrazine derivatives, namely hydrazine hydrate, phenylhydrazine and benzylhydrazine hydrochloride led to the formation of pyrazole derivatives 5–8, respectively. On the other hand, reaction of compound 4 with thiourea, urea or guanidine gave the pyrimidine derivatives 9–11, respectively. Reaction of amino compound 11 with acetic anhydride, benzoyl chloride and benzenesulphonyl chloride yielded N-substituted pyrimidine derivatives 12–14, respectively. Reaction of diazonium salt of compound 11 with sodium azide afforded azidopyrimidine derivative 15, which upon reaction with ethyl acetoacetate gave 1,2,3-triazole derivative 16. Acid catalyzed reaction of 11 with p-nitrobenzaldehyde gave Schiff base 17, which cyclized upon reaction with thioglycolic acid or chloroacetyl chloride to give thiazolidin-4-one 18 and azetidin-2-one 19, respectively. The newly synthesized compounds were tested for their anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anticonvulsant activities. Depending on the obtained results, the newly synthesized compounds possess significant anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anticonvulsant activities

An efficient and simple protocol for the synthesis of a new class of diverse bis(indolyl)pyridines analogues of the marine alkaloid nortopsentin has been reported. A one-pot four-component condensation of 3-cyanocarbomethylindole, various aldehyde, 3-acetylindole, and ammonium acetate in glacial acetic acid led to the formation of 2,6-bis(1H-indol-3-yl)-4-(substituted-phenyl)pyridine-5-carbonitriles. Additionally, 2,6-bis(1H-indol-3-yl)-4-(benzofuran) pyridine-5-carbonitriles were prepared via a one-pot four-component condensation of 3-cyanocarbomethylindole, various N-substituted-indole-3-aldehydes, 2-acetylbenzofuran, and ammonium acetate. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their ability to inhibit biofilm formation against the Gram-positive bacterial reference strains Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and the Gram-negative strain Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. Some of the new compounds showed a marked selectivity against the Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains. Remarkably, five compounds 4b, 7a, 7c, 7d and 8e demonstrated good antibiofilm formation against S. aureus and E. coli. On the other hand, the release of reducing sugars and proteins from the treated bacterial strains over the untreated strains was considered to explain the disruption effect of the selected compound on the contact cells of S. aureus and E. coli. Out of all studied compounds, the binding energies and binding mode of bis-indole derivatives 7c and 7d were theoretically the best thymidylate kinase, DNA gyrase B and DNA topoisomerase IV subunit B inhibitors.

A series of 1-(N-methyl 2a–c and N-benzenesulphonyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-aryl-prop-2-ene-1-ones 3a–c were prepared and allowed to react with urea, thiourea or guanidine and gave the pyrimidine derivatives 4a–c to 9a–c. Base catalyzed reaction of 2a–c or 3a–c with ethyl acetoacetate gave cyclohexanone derivatives 10a–c and 11a–c, respectively. Reaction of the latter compounds with hydrazine hydrate afforded indazole derivatives 12a–c and 13a–c, respectively. On the other hand, condensation of 2c or 3c with some hydrazine derivatives namely, hydrazine hydrate, acetyl hydrazine, phenyl hydrazine and benzyl hydrazine hydrochloride gave pyrazole derivatives 14a,b-17a,b, respectively. Moreover, reaction of 2c or 3c with hydroxyl amine hydrochloride gave isoxazole derivatives 18a,b. The newly synthesized compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity and showed that, compounds 14a, 14b, 15a and 15b were found to be the most active ones of all the tested compounds toward Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 14,028) compared to the reference drug chloramphenicol. Eighteen new compounds namely, pyrimidin-2(1H)-ones 4a–c and 5a–c, pyrimidin-2(1H)-thiones 6a–c and 7a–c and pyrimidin-2-amines 8a–c and 9a–c were tested for their in vitro cytotoxicity against human liver carcinoma (HEPG2), human breast cancer (MCF7) and human colon cancer (HCT-116) cell lines and showed that, compounds 4c, 5c, 6c, 8c and 9c were found to be the highly active compounds compared to the reference drug doxorubicin

The present work aims to design and synthesize novel series of spiro pyrazole-3,3’-oxindoles analogues and investigate their bioactivity as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents, as well as antiproliferative potency against selected human cancerous cell lines (i.e., breast, MCF-7; colon, HCT-116 and liver, HepG-2) relative to healthy noncancerous control skin fibroblast cells (BJ-1). The mechanism of their cytotoxic activity has been also examined by immunoassaying the levels of key anti- and proapoptotic protein markers. The analytical and spectral data of the all synthesized target congeners were compatible with their structures. Synthesized compounds showed diverse moderate to powerful antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Results of MTT assay revealed that seven synthesized compounds (i.e., 11a, 11b, 12a, 12b, 13b, 13c and 13h) particularly exhibited significant cytotoxicity against the three cancerous cell lines under investigation. Ranges of IC₅₀ values obtained were 5.7–21.3 and 5.8–37.4 µg/mL against HCT-116 and MCF-7, respectively; which is 3.8 and 6.5-fold (based on the least IC₅₀ values) more significant relative to the reference chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin. In HepG-2 cells, the analogue 13h exhibited the highest cytotoxicity with IC₅₀ value of 19.2µg/mL relative to doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 21.6µg/mL). The observed cytotoxicity was specific to cancerous cells, as evidenced by the minimal toxicity in the noncancerous control skin-fibroblast cells. ELISA results indicated that the observed antiproliferative effect against examined cancer cell lines is mediated via engaging the activation of apoptosis as illustrated by the significant increase in proapoptotic protein markers (p53, bax and caspase-3) and reduction in the antiapoptotic marker bcl-2. Taken together, results of the present study emphasize the potential of spiro pyrazole-oxindole analogues as valuable candidate anticancer agents against human cancer cells.

In consideration of the chromones' therapeutic potential and anticancer activity, a new series of chromanone derivatives have been synthesized through a straightforward reaction between 6-formyl-7-hydroxy-5-methoxy-2-methylchromone (2) and various organic active compounds. The cytotoxic activity of the newly synthesized congeners was investigated against MCF-7 (human breast cancer), HCT-116 (colon cancer), HepG2 (liver cancer), and normal skin fibroblast cells (BJ1). The obtained data indicated that compounds 14b, 17, and 19 induce cytotoxic activity in the breast MCF7, while compounds 6a, 6b, 11 and 14c showed highly potent activity in the colon cancer cell lines. Overall, the results demonstrate that the potential cytotoxic effects of the studied compounds may be based on their ability to induce DNA fragmentation in cancer cell lines, down-regulate the expression level of CDK4 as well as the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 and up-regulate the expression of the pro-apoptotic genes P53 and Bax. Furthermore, compounds 14b and 14c showed a dual mechanism of action by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The docking studies showed that the binding affinity of the most active cytotoxic compounds within the active pocket of the CDK4 enzyme is stronger due to hydrophobic and H-bonding interactions. These results were found to be consistent with the experimental results.

Synthesis, antimicrobial and anti-cancer activities of some newN-ethyl,N-benzyl andN-benzoyl-3-indolyl heterocycles: A series of 1-(N-substituted-1H-indol-3-yl)-3-arylprop-2-ene-1-ones (2a, b-4a, b) were prepared and allowed to react with urea, thiourea or guanidine to give pyrimidine derivatives5a, b-13a, b. Reaction of2a, b-4a, bwith ethyl acetoacetate in the presence of a base gave cyclohexanone derivatives14a, b-16a, b. Reaction of the latter compounds with hydrazine hydrate afforded indazole derivatives17a, b-19a, b. On the other hand, reaction of2a, b-4a, bwith some hydrazine derivatives, namely hydrazine hydrate, acetyl hydrazine, phenylhydrazine and benzylhydrazine hydrochloride, led to the formation of pyrazole derivatives20a, b-31a, b. Moreover, reaction of2a, b-4a, bwith hydroxylamine hydrochloride gave isoxazole derivatives32a, b-34a, b. The newly synthesized compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity and showed that 4-(N-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-6-(p-chlorophenyl)-pyrimidine-2-amine (11b) was the most active of all the test compounds towardsCandida albicanscompared to the reference drug cycloheximide. Eighteen new compounds, namely pyrimidin-2(1H)-ones5a, b-7a, b, pyrimidin-2(1H)-thiones8a, b-10a, band pyrimidin-2-amines11a, b-13a, bderivatives, were tested for theirin vitroantiproliferative activity against HEPG2, MCF7 and HCT-116 cancer cell lines. 4-(N-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-6-(p-methoxyphenyl)-pyrimidin-2-amine (11a)was found to be highly active withIC₅₀of 0.7 μmol L^-1.