Synthesis, activity and docking studies of phenylpyrimidine-carboxamide Sorafenib derivatives

Two series of Sorafenib derivatives bearing phenylpyrimidine-carboxamide moiety (16a-g and 17a-p) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for the IC₅₀ values against three cancer cell lines (A549, MCF-7 and PC-3). Two selected compounds (17f and 17n) were further evaluated for the activity against VEGFR2/KDR kinase. More than half of the synthesized compounds showed moderate to excellent activity against three cancer cell lines. Compound 17f showed equal activity to Sorafenib against MCF-7 cell line, with the IC₅₀ values of 6.35±0.43μM. Meanwhile, compound 17n revealed more active than Sorafenib against A549 cell line, with the IC₅₀ values of 3.39±0.37μM. Structure-activity relationships (SARs) and docking studies indicated that the second series (17a-p) showed more active than the first series (16a-g). What's more, the introduction of fluoro atom to the phenoxy part played no significant impact on activity. In addition, the presence of electron-donating on aryl group was benefit for the activity.