Regio and stereoselective synthesis of anticancer spirooxindolopyrrolidine embedded piperidone heterocyclic hybrids derived from one-pot cascade protocol

BACKGROUND: Spiropyrrolidine tethered piperidone heterocyclic hybrids were synthesized with complete regio- and stereoselectively in excellent yield via a tandem three-component 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and subsequent enamine reaction in [bmim]Br. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anticancer activity against FaDu hypopharyngeal tumor cells. FINDINGS: Interestingly, most compounds displayed cytotoxicities similar to the standard anticancer agent bleomycin, with two of them (5a and 5g) being slightly more active than the reference drug. CONCLUSION: Synthesized compounds have also been evaluated for their apoptosis-inducing properties in a cancer cell model, finding that treatment with compounds 5a–e led to apoptotic cell death. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13065-018-0462-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.