Cytotoxic effects of coumarin substituted benzimidazolium salts against human prostate and ovarian cancer cells

Coumarin and benzimidazole derivatives have individual biological activities including anticancer. In this study, we aimed to synthesize coumarin-benzimidazole hybrids in order to investigate their anticancer properties. For this purpose, six 6-substituted-4-chloromethylene coumarin derivatives were synthesized. Sixteen coumarin substituted benzimidazolium chlorides were synthesized by the reaction of 4-chloromethylene coumarin and N-benzylbenzimidazole derivatives. All of the synthesized compounds were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, IR spectroscopic techniques and elemental analyses. Cytotoxicities of all compounds were tested by [ 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole)-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay against human prostate (PC-3) and ovarian (A2780) cancer cells. All compounds performed significant cytotoxicities at 100 mu Magainst both cancer cell lines. Moreover, some compounds performed significant activities at 1 mu M against both cancer cell lines and the obtained results suggest that this type of compounds are promising candidates for the treatment of human prostate and ovarian cancers.