An Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of New Coumarin Derivatives as Potent Anticancer Agents under Microwave Irradiation

An efficient and rapid synthesis of coumarin derivatives was accomplished via reactions of 3-(3-(4-methoxyphenyl)acryloyl)-2H-chromen-2-one (3) with different carbon nucleophiles such as ethyl acetoacetate, ethyl cyanoacetate, malononitrile, and ethyl benzoylacetate via conventional heating and microwave irradiation conditions and were used as source of pyran and pyridine derivatives bearing coumarin moiety 4-11. Compound 9a was condensed with different carbon electrophiles triethylorthoformate, phenylisothiocyanate, carbon disulfide, benzoylchloride, and acetylchloride that afforded the corresponding chromen derivatives 12-16. All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental and spectroscopic evidences. All of synthesized compounds were tested for in vitro cytotoxicity. The preliminary screening results showed that most of the compounds had moderate cytotoxic activity against HCT-116 and MCF-7 cell lines. Nevertheless, compound 10 exhibited potent activity against the two cell lines, which was comparable with the standard drug 5-fluorouracil.