Synthesis, estrogen receptor binding affinity and molecular docking of pyrimidine-piperazine-chromene and -quinoline conjugates

Substituted 2-amino-7-((6-(4-(2-hydroxyethyl) piperazin-1-yl)-2-methylpyrimidin-4-yl)oxy)-4-phenyl-4H-chromene-3-carbonitriles and 2-amino-7-((6-(4-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazin-1-yl)-2-methylpyrimidin-4-yl)oxy)-4-phenyl-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carbonitriles were synthesized via an efficient multi-component one pot synthesis under mild conditions. These compounds 1-20 were evaluated against human breast Cancer cell lines (MCF-7) and human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) for cytotoxic activities. Among them, compounds 6, 7, 15, 17 and 19 showed better anti-proliferative activities as (IC₅₀ value 48±1.70, 65±1.13, 92±1.18, 30±1.17 and 16±1.10µM) than curcumin drug (48±1.11µM). Molecular docking was also performed with active compounds 6, 7 and 15 against Bcl-2 protein which gave good binding affinity (ΔG=-9.08, -8.29 and -7.70kcal/mol) respectively. Furthermore, the structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis revealed that the chromene and quinoline moieties, when attached with pyrimide and piperazine moieties, enhanced anti-proliferative activities.

Anti-proliferative activity; Chromene conjugates; Molecular docking; Quinoline conjugates; SAR study.