Synthesis, structure determination, molecular interaction, optical, thermal and anticancer activity studies, pharmacokinetic evaluation, and in-silico analysis of monocarbonyl curcumin derivative: An approach to drug discovery

Abstract

Overseeing the diverse pharmacological traits of curcumin, a novel monocarbonyl based curcumin derivative (1-(4-ethylbenzoyl)-3, 5-bis ((E)-4-methoxybenzylidene) piperidin-4-one) [EMBP] was synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation and Schotten-Baumann reaction procedures, and diffraction quality crystal was obtained by slow evaporation method. Geometrical parameters were calculated for the grown crystal by using the SCXRD technique. The non-covalent interactions like CH∙∙∙π, π∙∙∙π were visualized by Hirshfeld surfaces analysis. The contribution of various interactions towards the total Hirshfeld surface has been quantified by 2D fingerprint plot. The synthesized material is characterized for various optical and spectral properties through NMR, FT-Raman, FT-IR, UV–Vis, and PL spectra. The thermal stability and melting point of the material have been examined by TG/DTA analysis. The cytotoxic effect on the normal cell line HEK-293 was evaluated, and found that the compound is highly toxic. Anticancer activity on MCF-7 cell line of the compound was assessed and found to exhibit exceptional efficacy against cancerous cells. Results of molecular docking studies and evaluated ADMET properties clearly demonstrate that the synthesized material can be proposed as a promising medication for treating breast cancer but after an extensive biological and pharmaceutical research.