Novel benzimidazole-pyrimidine conjugates as potent antitumor agents

As a continuation to our previous work in synthesizing antitumor benzimidazoles, a series of 2-((1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)methylthio)-4-(substituted)-6-phenylpyrimidine-5-carbonitriles was synthesized. Evaluation of the synthesized compounds for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against twelve cell lines namely, Cervical carcinoma (KB), Ovarial carcinoma (SK OV-3), CNS cancer (SF-268), Non small lung cancer (NCI H460), Colonadenocarcinoma (RKOP27), Leukaemia (HL60, U937, K562), Melanoma (G361, SK-MEL-28) and Neuroblastoma (GOTO, NB-1) revealed their marked potency when compared with known anticancer drugs.