The Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Urea from Substituted Phenethylamine and the Investigation of its Antibacterial, Anticancer, and Antioxidant Properties

Abstract

There are numerous derivatives having urea scaffold in the literature, and these have many biological activities such as anticancer, antioxidant, antibacterial. Therefore, it aimed to synthesize urea derivatives containing substituted phenethylamine rings and investigate their biological properties such as anticancer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant. The antibacterial activity was carried out against four different bacterial strains (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853) by disc diffusion test. The synthesized compound was analyzed for their in vitro anticancer activity on SH-SY5Y (human neuroblastoma), HeLa (human cervical cancer), and A549 (non-small cell lung carcinoma) cell lines by using MTT, and LDH assays. The compound was inactive against all tested bacterial strains. The anticancer activity studies revealed that the unsymmetrical urea compound had remarkable activity against the tested cell lines, especially against the HeLa cell line with 50,61 µg/ml IC50 value. The compound was also analyzed for its antioxidant capacity by DPPH, ABTS, and CUPRAC methods. According to the results, the compound showed good to moderate activity against standard antioxidants. Therefore, this compound may be considered an anticancer and antioxidant agent in treating cancer and other related diseases.