Design, synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxicity activity evaluation of mono-chalcones and new pyrazolines derivatives

The development of resistance and side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs are common obstacles in the treatmentof cancer. With the expansion of health problems nowadays, there is a need to continuously develop new drugs thatare more efficient in targeting tumor cells and safe to normal cells. This study designed a series of new chalconesand pyrazoline derivatives based on their binding energy from the molecular docking study. The synthesis involvedClaisen–Schmidt condensation to form two chalcones, 1 and 2, which are then cyclized at room temperature to formeight new pyrazoline derivatives, 3–10. A one-pot reaction of acetophenone, 2-ethoxybenzaldehyde, and hydrazidederivatives (thiosemicarbazide and phenyl hydrazide) under reflux formed two new pyrazoline derivatives, 11 and12, without the isolation of chalcones. All the synthesized chalcones and pyrazolines were characterized using theFourier transform infrared spectroscopy–attenuated total reflectance and nuclear magnetic resonance (1D and 2D).The cytotoxicity activity of the chalcones and new pyrazoline compounds were investigated against breast cancercell lines (MCF-7 and MD-MB-231) and normal breast cell lines (MCF-10A). The results show that only compound7 showed the minimum inhibition against MCF-7 with IC50 6.50µM when exposed to the cell line for 24 hourscompared to the reference Gefitinib anticancer drug