Synthesis of non-toxic anticancer active forskolin-indole-triazole conjugates along with their in silico succinate dehydrogenase inhibition studies

Biologically important three different pharmacophores, forskolin, indole and 1,2,3-triazoles are coupled to obtain a hybrid molecule. Here, we described the synthesis of novel series of forskolin-indole-triazole conjugates 5a-5l by using the Cu(I) catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction. Furthermore, the biological significance of the synthesized molecules was assessed by in silico and in vitro modes. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for in vitro anticancer activity against PC-3, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, COLO-205, HeLa, WRL-68, RAJI, CHANG and RAW-264.7 cell lines. Compound 5g was found to be the most potent in all the tested cell lines (IC50 range 9.6-21.66 mu g/ml, except COLO-205), 5a, 5b and 5k were observed to exert its effect only against WRL-68 (IC50 range 27.69-48.18 mu g/ml), when compared to parent 3 (IC50 > 100 mu g/ml, tested concentrations 10-50 mu g/ml) and standard Doxorubicin (IC50 range 0.42-3.16 mu g/ml). The most potent compound 5g (MEF50 0.57) was found non-toxic to human erythrocytes as compared to control (MEF50 0.60) at tested concentration (50 mu g/ml). In silico-based succinate dehydrogenase inhibition showed that the synthesized compounds were having potent binding affinity compared to forskolin. Predictive ADMET and toxicity risk assessment analysis revealed that most of the compounds were complying with the standard limit of Lipinski's rule of five for oral bioavailability.

Automated summary

A novel series of hybrid molecules combining forskolin, indole, and 1,2,3-triazoles were synthesized and evaluated for potential anticancer activity. Compound 5g showed the highest potency across various cell lines. In silico studies indicated that the synthesized compounds exhibited stronger binding affinity compared to forskolin.