A series of novel mono and bishydrazones each bearing a 2-oxindole moiety along with substituted phenylaminopropanamide, pyrrolidin-2-one, benzimidazole, diphenylmethane, or diphenylamine fragments were synthesized, and their anticancer activities were tested by MTT assay against human melanoma A375 and colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cell lines. In general, the synthesized compounds were more cytotoxic against HT-29 than A375. 3-((4-Methoxyphenyl)(3-oxo-3-(2-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)hydrazinyl)propyl)amino)-N′-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)propanehydrazide and (N′,N‴)-1,1′-(methylenebis(4,1-phenylene))bis(5-oxo-N′-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)pyrrolidine-3-carbohydrazide) were identified as the most active compounds against HT-29 in 2D and 3D cell cultures. The same compounds showed the highest antioxidant activity among the synthesized compounds screened by ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP). Their antioxidant activity is on par with that of a well-known antioxidant ascorbic acid.

4-Phenyl-3-[2-(phenylamino)ethyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione was used as a starting compound for the synthesis of the corresponding 1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthioacetohydrazide, which reacts with isatins and various aldehydes bearing aromatic and heterocyclic moieties provided target hydrazones. Their cytotoxicity was tested by the MTT assay against human melanoma IGR39, human triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), and pancreatic carcinoma (Panc-1) cell lines. The selectivity of compounds towards cancer cells was also studied. In general, the synthesized compounds were more cytotoxic against the melanoma cell line. N′-(2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-2-((4-phenyl-5-(2-(phenylamino)ethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazide, N′-((1H-pyrrol-2-yl)methylene)-2-((4-phenyl-5-(2-(phenylamino)ethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazide and N′-(2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzylidene)-2-((4-phenyl-5-(2-(phenylamino)ethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazide were identified as the most active among all synthesized compounds in 3D cell cultures. N′-(4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene)-2-((4-phenyl-5-(2-(phenylamino)ethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazide inhibited all cancer cell migration, was characterized as relatively more selective towards cancer cells, and could be further tested as an antimetastatic candidate.

Defective and perfect sites naturally exist within electronic semiconductors, and considerable efforts to reduce defects to improve the performance of electronic devices, especially in hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (ABX₃), are undertaken. Herein, foldable hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) are developed, and they extend the wavefunctions of A‐site cations of perovskite, which, as hybridized electronic states, link the trap states (defective site) and valence band edge (perfect site) between the naturally defective and perfect sites of the perovskite surface, finally converting the discrete trap states of the perovskite as the continuous valence band to reduce trap recombination. Tailoring the foldability of the HTMs tunes the wavefunctions between defective and perfect surface sites, allowing the power conversion efficiency of a small cell to reach 23.22% and that of a mini‐module (6.5 × 7 cm, active area = 30.24 cm²) to reach as high as 21.71% with a fill factor of 81%, the highest value reported for non‐spiro‐OMeTAD‐based perovskite solar modules.

Series of novel 3-[(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]propanehydrazide derivatives bearing semicarbazide, thiosemicarbazide, thiadiazole, triazolone, triazolethione, thiophenyltriazole, furan, thiophene, naphthalene, pyrrole, isoindoline-1,3-dione, oxindole, etc. moieties were synthesized and their molecular structures were confirmed by IR, ¹H-, ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry data. The antioxidant activity of the synthesized compounds was screened by DPPH radical scavenging method. The antioxidant activity of N-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)-3-((4-methoxyphenyl)amino)propanamide and 3-((4-methoxyphenyl)amino)-N’-(1-(naphthalen-1-yl)-ethylidene)propanehydrazide has been tested to be ca. 1.4 times higher than that of a well-known antioxidant ascorbic acid. Anticancer activity was tested by MTT assay against human glioblastoma U-87 and triple-negative breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell lines. In general, the tested compounds were more cytotoxic against U-87 than MDA-MB-231 cell line. 1-(4-Fluorophenyl)-2-((5-(2-((4-methoxyphenyl)amino)ethyl)-4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)ethanone has been identified as the most active compound against the glioblastoma U-87 cell line.