Heba A.H. Elshemy

Synthesis of novel chromene derivatives of expected antitumor activity

Inhibition of tubulin polymerization is one of the important tactics in cancer therapy. Since 4-aryl-4H-chromene derivatives are found to be microtubule-binding agents via interfering with tubulin polymerization so we decide to concentrate our exploration efforts on the combination of this nucleus with 5-, 6-, and/or 7-memebered heterocyclic moieties in a novel series of compounds to explore the effect that might result from this combination. Ten novel compounds were selected for anticancer screening assay against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line in comparison to colchicine as positive control and most of them showed excellent activity.

Design, synthesis and biological screening of new 4-thiazolidinone derivatives with promising COX-2 selectivity, anti-inflammatory activity and gastric safety profile

Two series of new thiazolidin-4-one derivatives 4a-c and 8a-e were designed and prepared. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro COX-2 selectivity and anti-inflammatory activity in vivo. Compounds 8c and 8d showed the best overall in vitro COX-2 selectivity (selectivity indexes of 4.56 and 5.68 respectively) and in vivo activities (edema inhibition %=61.8 and 67 after 3h, respectively) in comparison with the reference drug celecoxib (S.I.=7.29, edema inhibition %=60 after 3h). In addition, 8c and 8d were evaluated for their mean effective anti-inflammatory doses (ED50=27.7 and 18.1 μmol/kg respectively, celecoxib ED50=28.2 μmol/kg) and ulcerogenic liability (reduction in ulcerogenic potential versus celecoxib=85%, 92% respectively. Molecular docking studies were performed and the results were in agreement with that obtained from the in vitro COX inhibition assays.

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of novel 4′-fluoro-2′-hydroxy-chalcone derivatives as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents

Abstract In an effort to develop safe and potent anti-inflammatory agents, a series of novel 4′-fluoro-2′-hydroxychalcones 5a–d and their dihydropyrazole derivatives 6a–d was prepared. It was synthesized via aldol condensation of 4′-fluoro-2′-hydroxyacetophenone with appropriately substituted aldehydes followed by cyclization with hydrazine hydrate. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cyclooxygenase inhibition selectivity and analgesic activities. The dimethoxychalcone 5a and its dihydropyrazole derivative 6a showed the highest antioxidant activity, while the monomethoxychalcone 5d and its dihydropyrazole derivative 6d showed the highest analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. It was also found that there is a close correlation between 4′-fluoro-2′-hydroxychalcones 5a–d and their dihydropyrazole derivatives 6a–d in the screened biological activities. To explain the correlation between the synthesized chalcones and their dihydropyrazole derivatives, especially for the anti-inflammatory activity, docking studies were performed.

1-(4-Methane(amino)sulfonylphenyl)-3-(4-substituted-phenyl)-5-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-1H-2-pyrazolines/pyrazoles as potential anti-inflammatory agents

2-Pyrazolins 14a-l and pyrazoles 15a-l were designed as celecoxib analogs for the evaluation of their in vitro COX-1/COX-2 inhibitory activity and the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. Compounds 14i, 15a, 15d and 15f were the most COX-2 selective derivatives (S.I.=5.93, 6.08, 5.03 and 5.27 respectively) while the pyrazoline derivatives 14g and 14i exhibited the highest AI activity (ED50=190.5 and 160.1μmol/kg po, respectively).

Synthesis and anti-inflammatory evaluation of new 1,3,5-triaryl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole derivatives possessing an aminosulphonyl pharmacophore

A novel series of 2-pyrazoline derivatives 13a–l was synthesized via aldol condensation of 4-substituted acetophenones with appropriately substituted aldehydes followed by cyclization of the formed chalcones with 4-hydrazinobenzenesulfonamide hydrochloride. The chemical structures of the target pyrazoline derivatives were proved by means of IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, mass spectroscopy and elemental analyses data. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their cyclooxygenase selectivity, anti-inflammatory and ulcerogenic liability. While compounds 13e, 13h and 13i showed moderate COX-2 selectivity in vitro and good anti-inflammatory activity in vivo, compound 13i showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity that is very close in potency to the reference drug (celecoxib) with better gastric profile than celecoxib.

Design and synthesis of new coumarin hybrids and insight into their mode of antiproliferative action.

Molecular hybridization approach was used to synthesize three series of coumarin based hybrids by conglomerate a substituted chalcones, acrylohydrazides, and pyridines moieties with 8-methoxy coumarin. The hybrids showed significant cytotoxic activity against liver cancer Hep G2 and Leukemia K562 cell lines with IC50 values 0.49-3.96μM, comparable to the positive controls and exhibited weak activity against the normal cell line WI-38, thus indicating selectivity toward the tumor cells. Coumarin-chalcone hybrids 2a-c have demonstrated the most promising activity against both cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 0.65-2.02μM. Interestingly, the acrylohydrazide hybrid 4c showed the highest cytotoxic activity against the leukemia cell line (K562) with IC50 value of 0.49μM. All the investigated coumarin hybrids were able to increase the caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins level expression relative to that of the untreated cells suggesting that coumarin hybrids-induced apoptosis was, in part, due to activation of caspases 3 and 9. Apoptosis was further confirmed with down-regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of Bax protein expression level. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis of 2a and 4c showed apoptotic signals activation, as a consequence of arrest in G2/M phase. Results of our study can shed light on coumarin-based hybrids as promising anticancer leads.

Design, synthesis and biological screening of some novel celecoxib and etoricoxib analogs with promising COX-2 selectivity, anti-inflammatory activity and gastric safety profile

Two new series of 4,6-diaryl-3-cyanopyridine 4a-r and 1,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines 6a-f and were prepared. The new compounds were evaluated for their in vitro COX-2 selectivity and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. Compounds 4o,r and 6d,f had moderate to high selectivity index (S.I.) compared to celecoxib (selectivity indexes of 4.5, 3.14, 4.79 and 3.21, respectively) and also, showed in vivo anti-inflammatory activity approximately equal to or higher than celecoxib (edema inhibition %=60.5, 64.5, 59.3 and 59.3, after 3h, respectively) and the effective anti-inflammatory doses were (ED50=10.1, 7.8, 8.46 and 10.7mg/kg respectively, celecoxib ED50=10.8mg/kg) and ulcerogenic liability were determined for these compounds which showed promising activity by being more potent than celecoxib with nearly negligible ulcerogenic liability compared to celecoxib (reduction in ulcerogenic liability versus celecoxib=85, 82, 74 and 67%, respectively).

Synthesis of novel chromenes as cytotoxic agents

Novel substituted chromenes, chromenopyrimidines and chromenotriazolopyrimidines were synthesised to explore their anticancer activity. Several compounds were evaluated for their antitumour activity, most of them revealed promising cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cell line MCF-7 in comparison to colchicine as positive control.

Determination of flutamide and two major metabolites using HPLC–DAD and HPTLC methods

Flutamide is a potential antineoplastic drug classified as an anti-androgen. It is a therapy for men with advanced prostate cancer, administered orally after which it undergoes extensively first pass metabolism in the liver with the production of several metabolites. These metabolites are predominantly excreted in urine. One of the important metabolites in plasma is 4-nitro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenylamine (Flu-1), while the main metabolite in urine is 2-amino-5-nitro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenol (Flu-3). In this work the two metabolites, Flu-1 and Flu-3, have been synthesized, and then structural confirmation has been carried out by HNMR analysis. Efforts were exerted to develop chromatographic methods for resolving Flutamide and its metabolites with the use of acceptable solvents without affecting the efficiency of the methods. The drug along with its metabolites were quantitatively analyzed in pure form, human urine, and plasma samples using two chromatographic methods, HPTLC and HPLC–DAD methods. FDA guidelines for bio-analytical method validation were followed and USP recommendations were used for analytical method validation. Interference from excipients has been tested by application of the methods to pharmaceutical tablets. No significant difference was found between the proposed methods and the official one when they were statistically compared at p value of 0.05%.