Synthesis of 4-substituted-3-Hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-ones with anticancer activity

Abstract

Abstract Herein we show that the 3-hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-one (3HQ) core is a suitable platform to develop new compounds with anticancer activity against MCF-7 (IC50 up to 4.82 μM) and NCI–H460 (IC50 up to 1.8 μM) cancer cell lines. The ring-expansion reaction of isatins with diazo esters catalysed by di-rhodium (II) complexes proved to be a simple and effective strategy to synthesize 4-carboxylate-3HQs (yields up to 92%). 4-Carboxamide-3HQs were more efficiently prepared using NHS-diazoacetate in yields up to 88%. This innovative methodology enabled the construction of “peptidic-like” 3HQs, with several amino acid substituents. Among this series, the L-leucine derivative induced the cell death of MCF-7 (IC50 of 15.1 μM) and NCI–H460 (IC50 of 2.7 μM) cancer cell lines without causing any appreciable cytotoxicity against the non-cancer cell model (CHOK1).