Design, synthesis and evaluation of anticancer activity of novel 2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one derivatives bearing pyrazole, triazole and benzoxazole moieties

A novel series of substituted 2-thiohydantoin incorporated with benzoimidazole, pyrazole, triazole and/or benzoxazole moieties has been synthesized using (E)-3-[1-(4-bromophenyl)ethylideneamino]-2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one 1 as the key starting material. The key material 1 also, reacted with an acetic anhydride, aromatic aldehydes, secondary amines, formaldehyde and triethyl orthoformate to give the corresponding acetyl, chalcone, Mannich bases and ethoxymethylene derivatives, respectively. The structures of the novel compounds were confirmed by spectral data and elemental analysis. The cytotoxic activity of all synthesized compounds was assessed in vitro against human hepatocellular cancer cell line (HePG-2) and breast carcinoma cell line (MCF-7). The bioassay results revealed that compound 14 has the best activity against HePG-2 cell line (IC(50) = 2.33 μg/mL), while compound 5 has the best activity against MCF-7 cell line (IC(50) = 3.98 μg/mL). [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13065-018-0418-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.