Synthesis and Cytotoxic Evaluation of a Series of 2-Amino-Naphthoquinones against Human Cancer Cells

The cytotoxicity of a series of aminonaphthoquinones resulting from the reaction of suitable aminoacids with 1,4-naphthoquinone was assayed against SF-295 (glioblastoma), MDAMB-435 (breast), HCT-8 (colon), HCT-116 (colon), HL-60 (leukemia), OVCAR-8 (ovarian), NCI-H358M (bronchoalveolar lung carcinoma) and PC3-M (prostate) cancer cells and also against PBMC (peripheral blood mononuclear cells). The results demonstrated that all the synthetic aminonaphthoquinones had relevant cytotoxic activity against all human cancer lines used in this experiment. Five of the compounds showed high cytotoxicity and selectivity against all cancer cell lines tested (IC(50) = 0.49 to 3.89 µg·mL(−1)). The title compounds were less toxic to PBMC, since IC(50) was 1.5 to eighteen times higher (IC(50) = 5.51 to 17.61 µg·mL(−1)) than values shown by tumour cell lines. The mechanism of cell growth inhibition and structure–activity relationships remains as a target for future investigations.