Synthesis of novel 1,2,3-triazole/isoxazole functionalized 2H-Chromene derivatives and their cytotoxic activity

A series of novel 2-(1,2,3-triazolylmethoxy) 5a-q and isoxazole tagged 6a-g 2H-Chromene derivatives were prepared starting from salicylaldehyde and ethyl-4,4,4-trifluoroacetoacetate via cyclization to form ethyl 2-hydroxy-2-(trifluoromethyl)-2H-Chromene-3-carboxylate 3. Compound 3 on reaction with propargyl bromide resulted compound 4 and was independently reacted with aryl/alkyl azides and aryl aldoximes obtained 2-(1,2,3-triazolylmethoxy) and isoxazole tagged 2H-Chromene derivatives 5a-q, 6a-i, respectively. Compounds 6 were further hydrolysed to acid derivatives 7a-g. All the products 5a-q, 6a-i, 7a-g were screened for cytotoxic activity against four human cancer cell lines and among all the compounds, 5f, 5g, 5l, 5q showed promising activity at <20 μM concentration.