Synthesis, cytotoxic evaluation and structure activity relationship of pyrazole hybrid aurones on gastric cancer (AGS) cell lines

A series of pyrazole hybrid aurones have been synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against AGS CRL-1739 cell line. The structures of these hybrid aurones were confirmed based on their IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS data. The impact of these pyrazole hybrid aurones on cell viability and cytotoxic activity was studied on adenocarcinoma gastric cell line (AGS) using an in-vitro cell based MTT assay. Hybrid compounds 5e, 5f, 5i and 6g with IC50 25, 28.3, 27 and 25.1 (mu M), respectively, were seen to have reduced cell viability and thus showed better cytotoxic activity in comparison to the standard chemotherapeutic drug agent Oxaliplatin (IC50 = 29.8 mu M) and Leucovorin (IC50 = 30.8 mu M),. Therefore, this study demonstrated that these compounds can be effective and potential anticancer agents with reliable efficacy. Analyzing this molecular library of thirty-five structurally related compounds, a concrete structure-activity relationship has been obtained. Compounds with 4-methylphenyl group at the 1st position of linked pyrazole moiety showed better cytotoxicity compared to phenyl and 4-nitrophenyl group with few exceptions.