Synthesis, anticancer activity and docking studies of pyrazoline and pyrimidine derivatives as potential epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors

Abstract

A search for anticancer agents has prompted the design and synthesis of new chalcone, pyrazoline and pyrimidine derivatives as potential epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors. These derivatives’ binding affinities were predicted by AutoDock, which showed that chalcone, pyrazoline and pyrimidine derivatives as EGFR-kinase inhibitors have good binding energies, ranging from −10.91 to −7.32 kcal/mol. These compounds were synthesized and characterized using elemental analysis (CHN analysis) and spectroscopic techniques (FTIR and NMR). Among the pyrazoline derivatives, 4Aiii has revealed a superior in vitro activity, inhibiting the EGFR kinase even at a low concentration of 0.19 μM compared to the pyrimidine derivative, 5Bii. In contrast, the cytotoxic effect of these derivatives was studied against hormonal and non-hormonal breast cancer cell lines. Most of the pyrazoline derivatives were able to express their cytotoxic effect efficiently against hormonal breast cancer but only one pyrimidine derivative managed to express its activity against hormonal breast cancer.