2 '-Aryl-2,5 ' -bibenzoxazoles: Synthesis, crystal structure and evaluation of cytotoxicity against cervical (HeLa) and liver (HepG2) cancer cell lines

A library of twenty-four 2'-aryl-2,5'-bibenzoxazoles (8a-8x) has been synthesized from 2-arylbenzoxazole-5-carboxylic acids (6a-6d) which in turn are obtained by hydrolysis of methyl 2-arylbenzoxazole-5-carboxylates (5a-5d) in excellent yields. These carboxylates (5a-5d) are prepared form methyl 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoate (3) and readily available various benzoic acids. The bibenzoxazoles (8a-8x) are characterised using NMR, FT-IR and HRMS techniques and the structure of 8h was established by X-ray crystallography. All the synthesized compounds (8a-8x) were screened for cytotoxicity ( in vitro ) against cervical cancer (HeLa) and hepato-carcinoma (HepG2) cell lines and non-cancerous (HEK293) cell line. Compounds, 8p, 8k and 8t shows good activity against HeLa cancer lines having the IC(50 )values 4.787, 9.611 and 10.68 mu M, respectively. (C 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A library of 2'-aryl-2,5'-bibenzoxoles was synthesized and characterized. Compounds 8p, 8k, and 8t showed good cytotoxicity against cervical cancer cell lines.