Synthesis and Evaluation of Chalcone Derivatives as Novel Anticancer Agents

Abstract

Three series of chalcones bearing a piperidino, morpholino, and 1-methylpiperazino moiety were synthesized in two steps with the key step being Claisen-Schmidt condensation and tested for the activity against five cell lines, MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line), A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line), HL-60 (human leukemia cell line), Hela (human cervical cancer cell line), and Bewo (human chorionic tumor cell line) by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Some chalcones exhibited good anticancer activity, and among them 4a, 4e, 4f, 4j, 4m, and 4o displayed the best anticancer activity for MCF-7 breast cancer cells, A549 lung cancer cells, and HL-60 leukemia cancer cells with IC 50 values below 10 μmol/L, respectively.