Design, syntheses, and antitumor activity of novel chromone and aurone derivatives

A series of new chromone analogues bearing heterocyclic thioether moiety and aurone analogues bearing cyclic tertiary amine moiety were designed and synthesized under microwave irradiation. The synthetic protocol was found to present many advantages, such as higher yields, shorter reaction time (10-20 min), mild condition, and readily isolation of the products. The synthesized compounds were assayed for their antitumor activity against four kinds of human solid tumor cell lines including HCCLM-7, Hep-2, MDA-MB-435S, and SW-480. Two compounds, (Z)-2-((4-benzyl-piperazin-1-yl)methylene)benzofuran-3(2H)-one 5e and (Z)-2-((4-(bis(4-fluorophenyl)methyl)piperazin-1-yl)methylene)benzofuran-3(2H)-one 5f, were identified as the most promising candidates with the IC(50) values in the range of 4.1-13.1 microM. Further cell cycle studies revealed that compounds 5e and 5f arrest the cell cycle in G(0)/G(1) phase and displayed apoptosis-inducing effect on Hep-2 cells.