Synthesis and anticancer activity evaluation of 4-thiazolidinones containing benzothiazole moiety

Synthesis of a sugar-based thiosemicarbazone series and structure-activity relationship versus the parasite cysteine proteases rhodesain, cruzain, and Schistosoma mansoni cathepsin B1

The pressing need for better drugs against Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness, and schistosomiasis motivates the search for inhibitors of cruzain, rhodesain, and Schistosoma mansoni CB1 (SmCB1), the major cysteine proteases from Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and S. mansoni, respectively. Thiosemicarbazones and heterocyclic analogues have been shown to be both antitrypanocidal and inhibitory against parasite cysteine proteases. A series of compounds was synthesized and evaluated against cruzain, rhodesain, and SmCB1 through biochemical assays to determine their potency and structure-activity relationships (SAR). This approach led to the discovery of 6 rhodesain, 4 cruzain, and 5 SmCB1 inhibitors with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of ≤ 10 μM. Among the compounds tested, the thiosemicarbazone derivative of peracetylated galactoside (compound 4i) was discovered to be a potent rhodesain inhibitor (IC50 = 1.2 ± 1.0 μM). The impact of a range of modifications was determined; removal of thiosemicarbazone or its replacement by semicarbazone resulted in virtually inactive compounds, and modifications in the sugar also diminished potency. Compounds were also evaluated in vitro against the parasites T. cruzi, T. brucei, and S. mansoni, revealing active compounds among this series.

Cu(i)-catalyzed microwave-assisted synthesis of 1,2,3-triazole linked with 4-thiazolidinones: a one-pot sequential approach

A novel copper(i) catalyzed, microwave-assisted, one-pot, four-component, sequential reaction has been developed for the synthesis of 3-phenyl-2-[4-{(1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxy}phenyl]thiazolidin-4-ones.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel diphenylthiazole-based cyclooxygenase inhibitors as potential anticancer agents

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most widely used medications as analgesics and antipyretics. Currently, there is a growing interest in their antitumor activity and their ability to reduce the risk and mortality of several cancers. While several studies revealed the ability of NSAIDs to induce apoptosis and inhibit angiogenesis in cancer cells, their exact anticancer mechanism is not fully understood. However, both cyclooxygenase (COX)-dependent and -independent pathways were reported to have a role. In an attempt to develop new anticancer agents, a series of diphenylthiazole substituted thiazolidinone derivatives was synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activity against a panel of cancer cell lines. Additionally, the inhibitory activity of the synthesized derivatives against COX enzymes was investigated as a potential mechanism for the anticancer activity. Cytotoxicity assay results showed that compounds 15b and 16b were the most potent anticancer agents with half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) between 8.88 and 19.25μM against five different human cancer cell lines. Interestingly, COX inhibition assay results were in agreement with that of the cytotoxicity assays where the most potent anticancer compounds showed good COX-2 inhibition comparable to that of celecoxib. Further support to our results were gained by the docking studies which suggested the ability of compound 15b to bind into COX-2 enzyme with low energy scores. Collectively, these results demonstrated the promising activity of the newly designed compounds as leads for subsequent development into potential anticancer agents.

A comprehensive review in current developments of benzothiazole-based molecules in medicinal chemistry

Benzothiazole (BTA) and its derivatives are the most important heterocyclic compounds, which are common and integral feature of a variety of natural products and pharmaceutical agents. BTA shows a variety of pharmacological properties, and its analogs offer a high degree of structural diversity that has proven useful for the search of new therapeutic agents. The broad spectrum of pharmacological activity in individual BTA derivative indicates that, this series of compounds is of an undoubted interest. The related research and developments in BTA-based medicinal chemistry have become a rapidly developing and increasingly active topic. Particularly, numerous BTA-based compounds as clinical drugs have been extensively used in practice to treat various types of diseases with high therapeutic potency. This work systematically gives a comprehensive review in current developments of BTA-based compounds in the whole range of medicinal chemistry as anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiinflammatory, analgesic, anti-HIV, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antitubercular, antidiabetic, antileishmanial, antihistaminic, antimalarial and other medicinal agents. It is believed that, this review article is helpful for new thoughts in the quest for rational designs of more active and less toxic BTA-based drugs, as well as more effective diagnostic agents and pathologic probes.

Conformational space and vibrational spectra of 2-[(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one

In this work we present the results of a study of the X-ray structure of 2-[(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)amino]-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one. Using the FTIR spectra in solid state and results of ab initio calculations we explain the issue of the tautomerism of this molecule. The compound is shown to exist as the 2-amino tautomer rather 2-imino tautomer. Here we consider eight possible tautomers. On the basis of the vibrational spectra we can eliminate five possible tautomers, as not existing in the solid state. As the most possible tautomeric form we have found keto 2-amino form.

Bradykinin antagonists and thiazolidinone derivatives as new potential anti-cancer compounds

Glioblastoma (GB), the most aggressive brain tumour, and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a rare but very aggressive type of lymphoma, are highly resistant to chemotherapy. GB and MCL chemotherapy gives very modest results, the vast majority of patients experience recurrent disease. To find out the new treatment modality for drug-resistant GB and MCL cells, combining of bradykinin (BK) antagonists with conventional temozolomide (TMZ) treatment, and screening of thiazolidinones derivatives were the main objectives of this work. As it was revealed here, BKM-570 was the lead compound among BK antagonists under investigation (IC50 was 3.3 μM) in human GB cells. It strongly suppressed extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) and protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation. BK antagonists did not decrease the viability of MCL cells, thus showing the cell-specific mode, while thiazolidinone derivatives, a novel group of promising anti-tumour compounds inhibited proliferation of MCL cells: IC₅₀ of ID 4526 and ID 4527 compounds were 0.27 μM and 0.16 μM, correspondingly. However, single agents are often not effective in clinic due to activation of collateral pathways in tumour cells. We demonstrated a strong synergistic effect after combinatorial treatment by BKM-570 together with TMZ that drastically increased cytotoxic action of this drug in rat and human glioma cells. Small proportion of cells was still viable after such treatment that could be explained by presence of TMZ-resistant cells in the population. It is possible to expect that the combined therapy aimed simultaneously at different elements of tumourigenesis will be more effective with lower drug concentrations than the first-line drug temozolomide used alone in clinics.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new rhodanine analogues bearing 2-chloroquinoline and benzo[h]quinoline scaffolds as anticancer agents

Several rhodanine derivatives (9-39) were synthesized for evaluation of their potential as anticancer agents. Villsmeier cyclization to synthesize aza-aromatic aldehydes, rhodanine derivatives preparation and Knoevenagel type of condensation between the rhodanines and aza-aromatic aldehydes are key steps used for the synthesis of 31 compounds. In vitro antiproliferative activity of the synthesized rhodanine derivatives (9-39) was studied on a panel of six human tumor cell lines viz. HGC, MNK-74, MCF-7, MDAMB-231, DU-145 and PC-3 cell lines. Some of the compounds were capable of inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cell lines at a micromolar concentration. Six compounds are found to be potent against HGC cell lines; compound 15 is found to be active against HGC - Gastric, MCF7 - Breast Cancer and DU145 - Prostate Cancer cell lines; compound 39 is potent against MNK-74; four compounds are found to be potent against MCF-7 cell lines; three compounds are active against MDAMB-231; nine compounds are found to be potent against DU-145; three compounds are active against PC-3 cell lines. These compounds constitute a promising starting point for the development of novel and more potent anticancer agents in future.

One pot three components microwave assisted and conventional synthesis of new 3-(4-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)-2-(substituted) thiazolidin-4-one as antimicrobial agents

A one-pot, three-component, microwave assisted and conventional synthesis of new 3-(4-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)-2-(substituted) thiazolidin-4-one (4a-n) was carried out by using N,N-dimethylformamide as a solvent with high product yield. Among these synthesized compounds (4f, 4g, 4l and 4m) were found to be a broad spectrum molecule active against all bacterial and fungus strains tested, except fungus Aspergillus niger. Amongst the compounds (4g, 4l and 4m) were found to be more potent than respective standard drugs used in the experiment against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus flavus, respectively. All synthesized compounds were also tested for their cytotoxic activity against HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines by the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. This study shows that all compounds were non-cytotoxic in nature, and confirmed their antimicrobial specificity apart from any general cytotoxicity.

Carbodiimide Mediated Synthesis of new Thiazolidin-4-Ones and Thiazinan-4-Ones from Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives of 6,7-Dihydro-1H-Indazole-4(5H)-Ones

5,5-Dimethyl-2-[(2-substitutedphenylhydrazinyl)methylene]cyclohexane-1,3-dione, obtained from heating dimedone with N,N‘-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal (DMF-DMA) and phenyl hydrazines, on cyclisation in ethanol gave 6,7-dihydro-1 H-indazol-4(5 H)-ones. The thiosemicarbazone derivative of 6,7-dihydro-1 H-indazole-4(5 H)-ones, on cyclocondensation with a and (3-haloacids in the presence of N,N‘-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide afforded new thiazolidin-4-ones and 1,3-thiazinan-4-ones respectively. Thiosemicarbazone of 6,7-dihydro-1 H-indazol-4(5 H)-ones on stirring with phenacyl bromides yields 2,4-disubstituted thiazoles. X-ray structure of the intermediate compound 5-dimethyl-2-[(2-phenylhydrazinyl)methylene] cyclohexane-1,3-dione was determined.

Computational Search for Possible Mechanisms of 4-Thiazolidinones Anticancer Activity: The Power of Visualization

Public databases of NCI-60 tumor cell line screen results and measurements of molecular targets in the NCI-60 panel give the opportunity to assign possible anticancer mechanism to compounds with positive outcome from antitumor assay. Here, the novel protocol of NCI databases mining where inferences are based on the visualization is presented and utilized with the aim to identify putative biological routes of 4-thiazolidinones anticancer effect. As a result, highly potent 4-thiazolidinone-pyrazoline-isatin conjugates show the similarity of activity patterns with puromycin and CBU-028 and their pattern is also highly correlated with fraction of methylated CpG sites in CD34, AF5q31 and SYK. Several compounds from this group show strong negative correlation with fraction of methylated CpG sites in HOXA5. Thiopyrano[2,3-d][1,3]thiazol-2-ones bearing naphtoquinone fragment were found to possess the same activity pattern as fusarubin does. But none of the studied 4-thiazolidinone derivatives has activity fingerprint similar to standard anticancer agents. The obtained results bring medicinal chemistry closer to the understanding of basic nature of 4-thiazolidinones effect on cancer cells.

Benzothiazoles exhibit broad-spectrum antitumor activity: their potency, structure-activity and structure-metabolism relationships

An antitumor activity oriented benzothiazole sublibrary was constructed from a hit compound 3 via a five stepwise procedure. All target compounds were screened for their antitumor activity against 60 human cancer cell lines. Compounds 9p, 12d and 12i, showing higher potency than hit 3, were identified. Particularly, the compound 9p gave its average 50% growth inhibition (GI₅₀) at 0.38 μM. Furthermore, incubation in human liver microsome primarily proved their metabolic stability in vitro. General structure-activity and structure-metabolism relationships were both summarized, which provides information on further strategically optimization.

Solvent-free Synthesis of Novel Benzothiazole-substituted 4-Thiazolidinones Using Nano Silica-bonded 5-n-Propyl-octahydro-pyrimido[1,2-a]azepinium Chloride as Catalyst

A series of novel benzothiazole-substituted 4-thiazolidinones were synthesised by the one-pot reaction of rhodanine-3-acetic acid derivatives, 2-aminothiophenol, and triphenyl phosphite in the presence of nano silica-bonded 5-n-propyl-octahydro-pyrimido[1,2-a]azepinium chloride (NSB-DBU) as heterogeneous reusable nanocatalyst under solvent-free conditions in high yields.

Synthesis of some new pyrazole-based 1,3-thiazoles and 1,3,4-thiadiazoles as anticancer agents

N-(4-(Pyrazol-4-yl)thiazol-2-yl)-N'-phenylthiourea derivative 2 was synthesized and then treated with variety of hydrazonoyl chlorides under basic condition at reflux to afford the corresponding 2-(4-(pyrazol-4-yl)thiazol-2-ylimino)-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives 6, 10a-e and 17a-e. Reaction of 2 with ethyl chloroacetate and with 3-chloro-2,4-pentanedione gave the thiazolidin-4-one 22 and 1,3-thiazole 25 derivatives, respectively. Condensation of thiazolidin-4-one 22 with aldehydes gave their 5-arylidene derivatives 23a-f. Most of the synthesized compounds were tested for anticancer activity against human hepatocelluar carcinoma HepG2, human breast cancer MCF-7 and human lung cancer A549. Their SAR was studied and variously affected by the electronic factor of electron donating and withdrawing groups. Many of the tested compounds showed moderate to high anticancer activity.

Synthesis, Antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of New Heterocyclic Hybrids Based on 2,5-Dimethylpyrrole and Pyrrole Scaffolds

A series of 4-(2,5-dimethylpyrrol-1-yl)/4-pyrrol-1-yl benzoic acid hydrazide analogs, some derived triazoles, azetidinones, thiazolidinones, and pyrroles have been synthesized in good yields and structures of these compounds were established by IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, mass spectral, and elemental analysis. These compounds were evaluated for their preliminary in vitro antibacterial, antifungal, and antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇ Rv strain by the broth dilution assay method. Twenty one of these compounds displayed good antimicrobial activity, with a MIC value of 1-4 μg/ml. Several compounds 4c, 8-10, 15b-15h, and 16b-16d exhibited good in vitro antitubercular activity with MIC value 1-2 μg/ml. Further, some title compounds were also assessed for their cytotoxic activity (IC₅₀) against mammalian Vero cell lines and A₅₄₉ (lung adenocarcinoma) cell lines using the MTT assay method. The results revealed that these compounds exhibit antitubercular activity at non-cytotoxic concentrations.

Synthesis and biological activity evaluation of 5-pyrazoline substituted 4-thiazolidinones

A series of novel 5-pyrazoline substituted 4-thiazolidinones have been synthesized. Target compounds were evaluated for their anticancer activity in vitro within DTP NCI protocol. Among the tested compounds, the derivatives 4d and 4f were found to be the most active, which demonstrated certain sensitivity profile toward the leukemia subpanel cell lines with GI₅₀ value ranges of 2.12–4.58 μM (4d) and 1.64–3.20 μM (4f). The screening of antitrypanosomal and antiviral activities of 5-(3-naphthalen-2-yl-5-aryl-4,5-dihydropyrazol-1-yl)-thiazolidine-2,4-diones was carried out with the promising influence of the mentioned compounds on Trypanosoma brucei, but minimal effect on SARS coronavirus and influenza types A and B viruses.

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Synthesis of novel 5-pyrazoline substituted 4-thiazolidinones was performed.

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Compounds 4d and 4f showed promising activity on the leukemia subpanel cell lines.

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Compounds were evaluated for antitrypanosomal and antiviral properties.

Organocatalysis in heterocyclic synthesis: DABCO as a mild and efficient catalytic system for the synthesis of a novel class of quinazoline, thiazolo [3,2-a]quinazoline and thiazolo[2,3-b] quinazoline derivatives

BACKGROUND

There are only limited publications devoted to the synthesis of especially thiazolo[3,2-a]quinazoline which involved reaction of 2-mercaptopropargyl quinazolin-4-one with various aryl iodides catalyzed by Pd-Cu or by condensation of 2-mercapto-4-oxoquinazoline with chloroacetic acid, inspite of this procedure was also reported in the literature to afford the thiazolo [2,3-b] quinazoline. So the multistep synthesis of the thiazolo[3,2-a]- quinazoline suffered from some flaws and in this study we have synthesized a novel class of thiazoloquinazolines by a simple and convenient method involving catalysis by 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO).

RESULTS

A new and convenient one-pot synthesis of a novel class of 2-arylidene-2H-thiazolo[3,2-a]quinazoline-1,5-diones 9a-i was established through the reaction between methyl-2-(2-thio-cyanatoacetamido)benzoate (4) and a variety of arylidene malononitriles 8a-i in the presence of DABCO as a mild and efficient catalytic system via a Michael type addition reaction and a mechanism for formation of the products observed is proposed. Moreover 4 was converted to ethyl-2-[(4-oxo-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2-yl)thio]acetate (10) upon reflux in ethanol containing DABCO as catalyst. The latter was reacted with aromatic aldehydes and dimethylformamide dimethylacetal (DMF-DMA) to afford a mixture of two regioselectively products with identical percentage yield, these two products were identified as thiazolo[3,2-a]quinazoline 9,13 and thiazolo[2,3-b]quinazoline 11,12 derivatives respectively. The structure of the compounds prepared in this study was elucidated by different spectroscopic tools of analyses also the X-ray single crystal technique was employed in this study for structure elucidation, Z/E potential isomerism configuration determination and to determine the regioselectivity of the reactions.

CONCLUSION

A simple and efficient one-pot synthesis of a novel class of 2-arylidene-2H-thiazolo[3,2-a]quinazoline-1,5-diones 9a-i was established through DABCO catalyzed Michael type addition reaction. In addition many fused quinazoline and quinazoline derivatives were synthesized which appeared as valuable precursors in synthetic and medicinal chemistry.

Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of new derivatives of 2-substituted-6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazoles as cholinesterase inhibitors

A series of novel cholinesterase inhibitors based on 2-substituted 6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazole were synthesised and characterised by IR, (1)H, (13)C and (19)F NMR spectroscopy and HRMS. Purity was checked by elemental analyses. The novel carbamates were tested for their ability to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). The toxicity of the most active compounds was investigated using a standard in vitro test with HepG2 cells, and the ratio between biological activity and toxicity was determined. In addition, the toxicity of the most active compounds was evaluated against MCF7 cells using the xCELLigence system. Structure-activity relationships reflecting the dependence of cholinesterase inhibitors on the lipophilicity of the compounds as well as on the Taft polar and steric substituent constants are discussed. The specific orientation of the inhibitors in the binding site of acetylcholinesterase was determined using molecular docking of the most active compound.

Biological Aspects of Emerging Benzothiazoles: A Short Review

In recent years heterocyclic compounds analogues and derivatives have attracted wide attention due to their useful biological and pharmacological properties. Benzothiazole is among the usually occurring heterocyclic nuclei in many marine as well as natural plant products. Benzothiazole is a privileged bicyclic ring system with multiple applications. It is known to exhibit a wide range of biological properties including anticancer, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic, anticonvulsant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antitubercular activities. A large number of therapeutic agents are synthesized with the help of benzothiazole nucleus. During recent years there have been some interesting developments in the biological activities of benzothiazole derivatives. These compounds have special significance in the field of medicinal chemistry due to their remarkable pharmacological potentialities. This review is mainly an attempt to present the research work reported in the recent scientific literature on different biological activities of benzothiazole compounds.

Anti-infective and herbicidal activity of N-substituted 2-aminobenzothiazoles

In this study, a series of N-substituted 2-aminobenzothiazoles was prepared according to a recently developed method. Twelve compounds were tested for their activity related to the inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts. Primary in vitro screening of the discussed compounds was also performed against fungal, bacterial and mycobacterial species. The biological activities of some compounds were comparable or higher than the standards phenoxymethylpenicillin or pyrazinamide. The most effective compounds demonstrated insignificant toxicity against the human monocytic leukemia THP-1 cell line. For all compounds, the structure-activity relationships are discussed.

Substituted 2-[(2-Oxo-2H-[1,2,4]triazino [2,3-c]quinazolin-6-yl)thio]acetamides with Thiazole and Thiadiazole Fragments: Synthesis, Physicochemical Properties, Cytotoxicity, and Anticancer Activity

The series of novel N-R-2-[(3-R-2-oxo-2H-[1,2,4]triazino[2,3-c]quinazolin-6-yl)thio]acetamides with thiazole and thiadiazole fragments in a molecule were obtained by alkylation of potassium salts 1.1–1.4 by N-hetaryl-2-chloroacetamides and by aminolysis of activated acids 2.1–2.4 with N,N’-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI). The structures of compounds were determined by IR, ¹H NMR, MS, and EI-MS analysis. The results of cytotoxicity evaluated by the bioluminescence inhibition of bacterium Photobacterium leiognathi, Sh1 showed that the compounds have considerable cytotoxicity. The synthesized compounds were tested for anticancer activity in NCI against 60 cell lines. Among the highly active compounds 3.1, 3.2, and 6.5, 2-[(3-methyl-2-oxo-2H-[1,2,4]triazino[2,3-c]quinazolin-6-yl)thio]-N-(1,3-thiazol-2-yl)acetamide (3.1) was found to be the most active anticancer agent against the cell lines of colon cancer (GI₅₀ at 0.41–0.69 μM), melanoma (GI₅₀ 0.48–13.50 μM), and ovarian cancer (GI₅₀ 0.25–5.01 μM). The structure-activity relationship (SAR-analysis) was discussed.

Recent advances on structural modifications of benzothiazoles and their conjugate systems as potential chemotherapeutics

INTRODUCTION

Benzothiazole scaffold comprises a bicyclic ring system and is known to exhibit a wide range of biological properties including antimicrobial and anticancer activities. Benzothiazole derivatives have long been therapeutically used for the treatment of various diseases. However, in recent years, 2-arylbenzothiazoles have emerged as an important pharmacophore in the development of antitumor agents. The promising biological profile and synthetic accessibility have been attractive in the design and development of new benzothiazoles and their conjugate systems as potential chemotherapeutics.

AREAS COVERED

This review mainly focuses on the structural modifications of benzothiazole scaffold, development of various series of benzothiazoles and their conjugates as new antitumor agents. Furthermore, heterocyclic derivatives bearing benzothiazole moiety and their in vitro as well as in vivo screening, structure-activity relationships (SAR), mechanism, pharmacokinetics, clinical use and their future therapeutic applications are discussed here.

EXPERT OPINION

A large number of benzothiazole derivatives discussed here possess potent anticancer activity and can be further developed as drug candidates. Benzothiazole conjugates could also display synergistic effect and still there is a need to use the drug combinations permitting lower dose and development of new generation of drugs. Despite encouraging results that have been observed for their response to tumor in clinical studies, full characterization of their toxicity is further required for their clinical usage as safe drugs for the treatment of cancer. We believe that this review gives a better understanding and scope for future drug design and development of benzothiazole-based compounds to implicate their use in cancer chemotherapy.