Green Synthesis and Molecular Docking of Thiazolyl-thiazole Derivatives as Potential Cytotoxic Agents

A series of novel thiazole derivatives were synthesized in a good yield via reaction of 2-(1-(4-methyl-2-phenylthiazol-5-yl)ethylidene)hydrazine carbothioamide with hydrazonoyl halides. The reaction was performed in the presence of DABCO as an organocatalyst in short reaction times, easy workup, good to excellent yields. The structure of the newly synthesized products was elucidated via elemental analysis, spectral data and alternative routes whenever possible. Ten compounds were evaluated for their anti-cancer activity against the colon carcinoma cell line (HCT-116).

The results revealed that most of the tested compounds showed high or moderate anti-cancer activity. The molecular docking of five novel thiazolyl-thiazole derivatives was performed by the Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) program.