Novel coumarin cyclotriphosphazene derivatives: Synthesis, characterization, DNA binding analysis with automated biosensor and cytotoxicity

The First Chalcone Derivatives of Valine-Based Spiro-Cyclotriphosphazenes: In Vitro Cytotoxic Properties, Molecular Docking and DNA Damage Mechanism Studies

Cancer treatment requires novel compounds with potent cytotoxic and genotoxic properties to effectively target cancer cells. In this study, new hybrid cyclotriphosphazene compounds were synthesized, characterized, and evaluated for their biological activity. Cytotoxicity against A2780 and Caco-2 cancer cell lines was assessed via the MTT assay, while genotoxic effects at 60-70% cell viability were examined using the Comet assay. Apoptotic cells were identified through TUNEL analyses, and reactive oxygen species levels were measured. Results showed that these compounds significantly reduced cell viability through DNA damage mechanisms. At high doses (50-100 µM), BV, BVK1, BVK2, and BVK4 decreased A2780 cell viability by 30-65%, whereas VPA had a milder effect (15-25%). In Caco-2 cells, viability was reduced by 10-35%. The compounds exhibited varying cytotoxicity across different cancer cell lines, reflecting cancer cell heterogeneity. Significant DNA damage, including changes in tail length, tail density, and tail moment, was observed in A2780 cells, confirming cell death via DNA damage. Molecular docking analyses further supported the potential of cyclotriphosphazene compounds (BV and BVK2) as targeted cancer inhibitors. Molecular docking revealed BVK2's high selectivity for Bcl-2, mutant p53, and VEGFR2. BVK2 and BV demonstrate strong binding affinities with key cancer-related targets, indicating their potential as multi-targeted inhibitors that regulate apoptosis, cell cycle control, and angiogenesis, making them promising candidates for targeted cancer therapy.

Coumarin-Phosphazenes: Enhanced Photophysical Properties from Hybrid Materials

Phosphazenes have drawn a great deal of interest over the past 20 years as a potentially useful building block for the fabrication of fluorescent materials. The main objective of this work is to explore novel derivatives produced by coumarins, a class of chemicals well-known for their photophysical importance, and cyclophosphazenes. UV absorbance, fluorescence emission, quantum yield, and lifetime measurements were conducted to comprehend the optical properties. Furthermore, single-crystal X-ray analysis and theoretical calculations were carried out to confirm the structure of the molecule. The obtained findings collectively confirm the commendable optical properties exhibited by the studied compounds. Moreover, a detailed study of the crystal packing arrangement of DPP-Et-Kum-Et compound crystallized in the P21/n monoclinic space group revealed the presence of stacking interactions between the nonplanar conjugated benzene rings of the coumarins and the rigid diphenyl groups attached to the phosphazene ring. The crystal structure of the DPP-Kum-Me-Me compound is mainly based on classical C-H···O intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions with an average distance of 2.52 Å. Importantly, the calculated absorption spectra of the compounds are in close agreement with the experimental data, further supporting their interesting electronic properties. Given that the DPP-Et-Kum-Et and DPP-Kum-Et compounds have the theoretically lowest band gaps (4.31 and 4.30 eV, respectively), the activation energies of these compounds were determined by an impedance analyzer using dc conductance values measured at different temperatures. The calculated activation energies for DPP-Et-Kum-Et and DPP-Kum-Et are 104.49 and 100.92 meV, respectively. The results demonstrate that both theoretical and experimental calculations are in agreement with each other and that the DPP-Kum-Et compound has the lowest conductivity.

Coumarin as an Elite Scaffold in Anti-Breast Cancer Drug Development: Design Strategies, Mechanistic Insights, and Structure-Activity Relationships

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Currently, it poses a significant threat to the healthcare system due to the emerging resistance and toxicity of available drug candidates in clinical practice, thus generating an urgent need for the development of new potent and safer anti-breast cancer drug candidates. Coumarin (chromone-2-one) is an elite ring system widely distributed among natural products and possesses a broad range of pharmacological properties. The unique distribution and pharmacological efficacy of coumarins attract natural product hunters, resulting in the identification of numerous natural coumarins from different natural sources in the last three decades, especially those with anti-breast cancer properties. Inspired by this, numerous synthetic derivatives based on coumarins have been developed by medicinal chemists all around the globe, showing promising anti-breast cancer efficacy. This review is primarily focused on the development of coumarin-inspired anti-breast cancer agents in the last three decades, especially highlighting design strategies, mechanistic insights, and their structure-activity relationship. Natural coumarins having anti-breast cancer efficacy are also briefly highlighted. This review will act as a guideline for researchers and medicinal chemists in designing optimum coumarin-based potent and safer anti-breast cancer agents.

Effect of pH on Fluorescence Spectra of Coumarin Derivatives

Colourless crystalline solid coumarin with a bitter taste and sweet vanilla-like odor mostly acts as chemical protection against predators in plants. Anticoagulants (blood thinners), anti-fungicidal, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties of coumarin are all used to treat skin diseases. Because of internal charge transfer (ICT), coumarin molecules displayed a solvatochromic effect in various solvents of varying polarity. The emission wavelength dependent fluorescence intensity was also affected by pH.

Overview on developed synthesis procedures of coumarin heterocycles

Considering highly valuable biological and pharmaceutical properties of coumarins, the synthesis of these heterocycles has been considered for many organic and pharmaceutical chemists. This review includes the recent research in synthesis methods of coumarin systems, investigating their biological properties and describing the literature reports for the period of 2016 to the middle of 2020. In this review, we have classified the contents based on co-groups of coumarin ring. These reported methods are carried out in the classical and non-classical conditions particularly under green condition such as using green solvent, catalyst and other procedures.

Synthesis of the first 2-hydroxyanthraquinone substituted cyclotriphosphazenes and their cytotoxic properties

New 2-hydroxyanthraquinone based cyclotriphosphazenes were prepared and their cytotoxic effects were investigated in MCF-7 (breast cancer), MCF-12A (normal breast epithelium), DLD-1 (colon cancer), and CD-18Co (normal colon epithelium) cell lines.

Novel paraben derivatives of tetracyclic spermine cyclotriphosphazenes: synthesis, characterization and biosensor based DNA interaction analysis

A new series of paraben-substituted dispiroansa (tetracyclic) spermine derivatives of cyclotriphosphazenes likely to be biologically active were synthesized for the first time and their effects on DNA were studied.