Synthesis of Novel Thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine Derivatives and Evaluation of Their Cytotoxicity and EGFR Inhibitory Activity

Abstract

4-Substitutedaminoquinazoline scaffolds were reported to possess potent cytotoxic and EGFR inhibitory activity such as gefitinib (Iressa), erlotinib (Tarceva) and tandutinib. Synthesis of novel 4-substitutedaminothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as bioisosters of 4-substitutedaminoquinazoline derivatives with potential cytotoxic and EGFR inhibitory activity. Novel 4-substitutedaminothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives 4a-i and 5a-c were synthesized via reacting corresponding 4-chlorothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives 3a-c with N-methylpiperazine, morpholine, N-phenylpiperazine or 1,3-propanediamine. Six compounds (2a, 4d, 4e, 5a-c) were selected by the National Cancer Institute (USA) for evaluating their cytotoxic activity using 60 different human tumor cell lines using a single dose (10-5 Molar). The rest of the synthesized compounds (2b, 2c, 3a-c, 4a-c and 4f-i) were subjected to screening against T47D breast cancer cell line using a single dose (10-5 Molar) at Pharmacology lab., Cancer biology lab., Egyptian National Institute. Moreover, compounds 2a and 4b-e were subjected to further evaluation by IC50 determination. Finally, the inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was then investigated for the most active compounds 2a and 4d. Compounds 2a and 4b-e showed significant cytotoxic activity. Compound 2a was more potent than doxorubicin against lung cancer cell line A549 with IC50 = 13.40 μM and comparable activity against MCF7. Compound 4d exhibited more potent activity than Doxorubicin against prostate PC3 (IC50 = 14.13 µM) while showed comparable activity against MCF7 and T47D. 4-Substitutedaminothieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine is a promising backbone for the design and synthesis of potent cytotoxic leads.