Chalcone derivatives are considered valuable species because they possess a ketoethylenic moiety, CO-CH=CH-. Due to the presence of a reactive α,β-unsaturated carbonyl group, chalcones and their derivatives possess a wide spectrum of antiproliferative, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, antileishmanial, and antimalarial pharmacological properties. Recent developments in heterocyclic chemistry have led to the synthesis of chalcone derivatives, which had been biologically investigated toward certain disease targets. The major aspect of this review is to present the most recent synthesis of chalcones bearing N, O, and/or S heterocycles, revealing their biological potential during the past decade (2010-2021). Based on a review of the literature, many chalcone-heterocycle hybrids appear to exhibit promise as future drug candidates owing to their similar or superior activities compared to those of the standards. Thus, this review may prove to be beneficial for the development and design of new potent therapeutic drugs based on previously developed strategies.

New 2-[(4-[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonothioyl)methylene]aminobenzoic acid ligand-Co(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) complexes are synthesized and characterized in this article. Elemental analysis, mass spectroscopy, conductivity tests, magnetic susceptibility, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, electronic absorption spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations were used to determine the coordination mode, and geometry of the synthesized compounds. The Schiff-base ligand was shown to be mono-negatively charged and coordinate to metal ions in a bi-dentate mode through azomethine nitrogen (-CH=N-) and carboxylic Oxygen (-COOH). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed in addition to the experimental data to assess the most probable structures of the complexes. In addition, the biological activities of these compounds were evaluated by in vitro antibacterial and antifungal assays. These novel Co(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) compounds were shown to be active against a wide variety of microorganisms, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi. Following that, molecular docking was used to analyze the complexes' interactions with bacterial proteins, validating the therapeutic potential of the metal-containing compounds. KEY WORDS: Metal complexes, Schiff-base, DFT, Antibacterial, Antifungal, Molecular docking Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2024, 38(2), 325-346. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v38i2.5

In an effort to improve and achieve biologically active anticancer agents, a novel series of 1,2,3-triazole-containing hybrids were designed and efficiently synthesized via the Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction of substituted-arylazides with alkyne-functionalized pyrazole-[1,2,4]-triazole hybrids. The structure geometry of these new clicked 1,2,3-triazoles was explored by density functional theory (DFT) using the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level; also, the potential activity of the compounds for light absorption was simulated by time-dependent DFT calculations (TD-DFT). The antitumor impacts of the newly synthesized compounds were in vitro estimated to be towards the human liver cancer cell line (HepG-2), the human colon cancer cell line (HCT-116), and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7). Among the tested compounds, conjugate 7 was the most potent cytotoxic candidate towards HepG-2, HCT-116, and MCF-7, with IC₅₀ = 12.22, 14.16, and 14.64 µM, respectively, in comparison to that exhibited by the standard drug doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 11.21, 12.46, and 13.45 µM). Finally, a molecular docking study was conducted within the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) active site to suggest possible binding modes. Hence, it could conceivably be hypothesized that analogies 7, 6, and 5 could be considered as decent lead candidate compounds for anticancer agents.