Dihydroartemisinin and zerumbone esters of ataluren and its analogs as anticancer agents and EGFR inhibitors

Abstract

In a five-step procedure, 18 new esters (20a–i and 21a–i) of ataluren and its analogs with dihydroartemisinin and zerumbone were synthesized from methyl 3-cyanobenzoate. The screening for their cytotoxic activity against two cancer cell lines, HepG2 and MCF-7, showed that most esters exhibit activity against the tested cell lines, with IC50 values in the range of 1.61–36.52 µM. Among the tested compounds, ester 21f containing 4-methoxy in structure R did not show cytotoxic activity. The interactions of these new derivatives with the epidermal growth factor receptor protein were also investigated by molecular docking studies. The obtained binding conformation revealed several notable results, demonstrating similarities between molecular modeling theory and experiment. These results contributed to interpreting the in vitro cytotoxicity of esters and proposed the basis for predicting the mechanism of their cytotoxic action.