Design, Synthesis, and Cytotoxic Activity of Novel Natural Arylsulfonamide-Inspired Molecules

Primary arylsulfonamide functional groups feature prominently in diverse pharmaceuticals. However, natural arylsulfonamides are relatively infrequent. In this work, two novel arylsulfonamide natural products were first synthesized, and then a series of novel molecules derived from natural arylsulfonamides were designed and synthesized, and their in vitro cytotoxic activities against A875, HepG2, and MARC145 cell lines were systematically evaluated. The results indicate that some of these arylsulfonamide derivatives exhibit significantly good cytotoxic activity against the tested cell lines compared with the control 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), such as compounds 10l, 10p, 10q, and 10r. In particular, the potential molecule 10q, containing a carbazole moiety, exhibited the highest inhibitory activity against all tested cell lines, with IC₅₀ values of 4.19 ± 0.78, 3.55 ± 0.63, and 2.95 ± 0.78 μg/mL, respectively. This will offer the potential to discover novel drug-like compounds from the sparsely populated area of natural products that can lead to effective anticancer agents.