EFFICIENT AND SELECTIVE ANTITUMOR AGENTS BASED ON CATIONIC CALIXARENES: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND ANTIPROLIFERATIVE PROPERTIES

Abstract

Research work on the preparation of anti-tumor agents with active properties is still a major field for the pharmaceutical industry to promote more potent anticancer drugs to the market. However, one of the main disadvantages of current and future anticancer drugs is selectivity. Therefore, in recent decades, a new perspective has to be developed for chemotherapy, such as "targeted" drugs and minimal side effects. Calixarenes, composed of phenolic units linked by methylene bridges are versatile kinds of macrocyclic compounds in supramolecular chemistry that can be modified to hydrophilic and hydrophobic cavities. The biocompatibility of calixarene derivatives allows them to be used in the development of in vivo and in vitro applications. For this reason, the calixarenes with different active groups, have been synthesized by many researchers as a target structure, and their biological activities and in particular their anti-cancer properties, have been studied. The purpose of the current study is to synthesize calix[4]arene derivatives bearing the cationic group at the lower rim and investigation their cytotoxic effect for several cancerous cells. Results demonstrated that calix[4]arene derivative having 5-bromopenty trimethylammonium bromide moieties (CN) and calix[4]arene derivative having 3-bromopropyl-triphenylphosphonium bromide moieties (CP) compounds selectively inhibits proliferation of A549 (13.42 µM) and HeLa (17.05 µM) and Hep-2 cells (>200 µM and 162.71 µM), respectively.