Structure-activity relationship study of arylsulfonylimidazolidinones as anticancer agents

In an effort to find novel N-arylsulfonylimidazolidinones as highly potent anticancer agent, the structure-activity relationship of ethyl 2-methyl-4-(2-oxo-4-phenylimidazolidin-1-ylsulfonyl)phenylcarbamate was explored through synthesis and evaluation of in vitro cytotoxicity of its analogs against HCT116, A549 and NCL-H460 cancer cell lines. Among the synthesized derivatives, the carbamate analogs (4a-f and 4k-p) exhibited superior cytotoxicity to doxorubicin for all cancer cell lines. The SAR studies of these derivatives confirm that the intact 4-phenyl-l-benzenesulfonylimidazolidinone has a pivotal role as a basic pharmacophore and hydrophobic substitutions only at 2-position of 1-aminobenzenesulfonyl moiety are beneficial for the enhancement of the activity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.