Synthesis and exploration of 2-morpholino-4-phenylthiazol-5-yl acrylamide derivatives for their effects against carbonic anhydrase I, II, IX and XII isoforms as a non-sulfonamide class of inhibitors.

Novel series of 2-morpholino-4-phenylthiazol-5-yl acrylamide derivatives (8a-s) have been synthesized and explored as a non-sulfonamide class of carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) inhibitors. The newly synthesized molecules were evaluated for their CA inhibitory potency against four isoforms: the cytosolic isozyme hCA I, II as well as trans-membrane tumor associated isoform hCA IX and hCA XII taking acetazolamide (AAZ) as standard drug. The results revealed that most of the compounds showed good activity against hCA II, IX, and XII whereas none of them were active against hCA I (Ki >100 µM). It is observed that the physiologically most important cytosolic isoform hCA II was inhibited by these molecules in the range of Ki 9.3-77.7 µM. It is also found the both the transmembrane isoforms hCA IX and XII were also inhibited with Kis ranging between 54.7-96.7 µM and 4.6-8.8 µM, respectively. The binding modes of the active compounds within the catalytic pockets of hCA II, IX and XII were evaluated by docking studies. This new non-sulfonamide class of selective inhibitors of hCA II, IX and XII over the hCA I isoform may be used for further understanding the physiological roles of some of these isoforms in various pathologies.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of curcumin inspired indole analogues as tubulin polymerization inhibitors.

In our endeavour towards the development of potent cytotoxic agents, a series of some new curcumin inspired indole analogues, in which indole and phenyl moieties are linked on either sides of 1,5-diaryl-1,4-pentadien-3-one system have been synthesized and characterized by spectral data. All the newly synthesized analogues were tested for their cytotoxic potential against a panel of eight cancer cell lines namely, lung (A549), breast (MDA-MB-231, BT549 and 4T1), prostate (PC-3, DU145), gastric (HGC-27) and cervical (HeLa). Notably, among all the compounds tested, compounds 11c, 11d and 11f showed potent growth inhibition on PC-3 and BT549 with IC50 values in the range of 3.12-6.34 µM and 4.69-8.72 µM respectively. The most active compound (11c) was also tested on RWPE-1 (normal prostate) cells and was found to be safe compared to the PC-3 cells. In tubulin polymerization assay, compounds 11c and 11f effectively inhibited microtubule assembly with IC50 values of 10.21 ± 0.10 and 8.83 ± 0.06 µM respectively. The results from molecular modelling studies revealed that these compounds bind at the colchicine binding site of the tubulin. Moreover, DAPI and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining studies indicated that compounds 11c and 11f can induce apoptosis in PC-3 cells. Further flow-cytometry analysis revealed that compound 11c arrests PC-3 cells in G2/M phase of the cell cycle while compound 11f treatment resulted in moderate increase in the G2/M population. Additionally, the treatment by these compounds led to the impairment of mitochondrial membrane potential (DΨm) in PC-3 cells.