Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new 2,6-difluorinated phenyl 4-(2-oxoimidazolidin-1-yl)benzenesulfonates as new antimicrotubule agents

We previously discovered a novel family of antimicrotubule agents designated as phenyl 4-(2-oxoimidazolidin-1-yl)benzenesulfonates (PIB-SOs). In this study, we evaluated the effect of the difluorination of the aromatic ring bearing the imidazolidin-2-one moiety (Ring A) at positions 3, 5 and 2, 6 on their antiproliferative activity on four cancer cell lines, their ability to disrupt the microtubules and their toxicity toward chick embryos. We thus synthesized, characterized and biologically evaluated 24 new difluorinated PIB-SO derivatives designated as phenyl 3,5-difluoro-4-(2-oxoimidazolidin-1-yl)benzenesulfonates (3,5-PFB-SOs, 4–15) and phenyl 2,6-difluoro-4-(2-oxoimidazolidin-1-yl)benzenesulfonates (2,6-PFB-SOs, 16–27). The concentration of the drug required to inhibit cell growth by 50 % (IC50) of 3,5-PFB-SOs are over 1000 nM while most of 2,6-PFB-SOs exhibit IC50 in the nanomolar range (23–900 nM). Furthermore, the most potent 2,6-PFB-SOs 19, 26 and 27 arrest the cell cycle progression in G2/M phase, induce cytoskeleton disruption and impair microtubule polymerization. Docking studies also show that the most potent 2,6-PFB-SOs 19, 21, 24, 26 and 27 have binding affinity toward the colchicine-binding site (C-BS). Moreover, their antiproliferative activity is not affected by antimicrotubule- and multidrug-resistant cell lines. Besides, they exhibit improved in vitro hepatic stability in the mouse, rat and human microsomes compared to their non-fluorinated counterparts. They also showed theoretical pharmacokinetic, physicochemical and drug-like properties suited for further in vivo assays. In addition, they exhibit low to no systemic toxicity toward chick embryos. Finally, our study evidences that PIB-SOs must be fluorinated in specific positions on Ring A to maintain both their antiproliferative activity and their biological activity toward microtubules.