Synthesis and anticancer activities of novel 1,4-disubstituted phthalazines

A series of novel 1-anilino-4-(arylsulfanylmethyl)phthalazines were designed and synthesized. The structures of all the compounds were confirmed by IR, 1H-NMR, elemental analysis and MS. The analogues 1-(3-chloro-4-fluoroanilino)-4-(3,4- difluorophenylthio-methyl)phthalazine (12) and 1-(4-fluoro-3-trifluoromethylanilino)-4- (3,4-difluorophenyl-thiomethyl)phthalazine (13) showed higher activity than a cisplatin control when tested in vitro against two different cancer cell lines using the microculture tetrazolium method (MTT) method.