Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzodioxole Derivatives as Potential Anticancer and Antioxidant agents

a series of benzodioxole compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against cervical (Hela), colorectal (Cato-2), and liver (Hep3B) cancer cell lines. Compounds 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a and 7h showed very weak or negligible anticancer activity with IC50 3.94-9.12 mM. On the contrary, carboxamide containing compounds 2a and 2b showed anticancer activity. Both 2a and 2b reduced Hep3B secretions of alpha-fetoprotein (alpha-FP) to 1625.8 ng/ml and 2340 ng/ml, respectively, compared to 2519.17 ng/ml in untreated cells. The results also showed that compound 2a has potent anticancer activity against Hep3B cancer cell line. Furthermore, in cell cycle analysis, compound 2a induced arrest in the G2-M phase in value of 8.07% that was very close to the activity of doxorubicin (74%). These results indicate that compound 2a has a potent and promising antitumor activity. However, benzodiazepine derivatives (7a and 7b) showed moderate antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 39.85 and 79.95 mu M, respectively compared with the potent antioxidant agent Trolox (IC50 = 772 mu M).