Design, synthesis, and antilung adenocarcinoma activity research of novel paeonol Schiff base derivatives containing a 1,2,3‐triazole moiety

Abstract

AbstractA new series of paeonol Schiff base derivatives containing a 1,2,3‐triazole moiety were synthesized using the copper(I) catalyzed azide‐alkynecycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction and evaluated for their cytotoxicity in vitro against human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells, human lung cancer A549 cells, and human liver cancer HepG2 cells. Unfortunately, all the tested compounds showed poor activities toward the human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells and human liver cancer HepG2 cells. However, compounds (E)‐2‐(1‐(((1‐[2‐fluorophenyl]‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazol‐4‐yl)methyl)imino)ethyl)‐5‐methoxyphenol (4c) and (E)‐2‐(1‐(((1‐[3‐ chlorophenyl]‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazol‐4‐yl)methyl)imino)ethyl)‐5‐methoxyphenol (4i) exhibited inhibitory activities toward human lung cancer A549 cells (IC50 = 45.1 μM for 4c and 78.9 μM for 4i) compared with that of paeonol, which indicated that such paeonol Schiff base derivatives containing a 1,2,3‐triazole moiety could be further modified to obtain good cytotoxicity in vitro against human lung cancer A549 cells.