Design and Synthesis of Vandetanib Derivatives Containing Nitroimidazole Groups as Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Normoxia and Hypoxia

Sixteen novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-2 inhibitors (nitroimidazole-substituted 4-anilinoquinazoline derivatives (16a–p)) were designed and prepared via the introduction of a nitroimidazole group in the piperidine side chain and modification on the aniline moiety of vandetanib. Preliminary biological tests showed that comparing with vandetanib, some target compounds exhibited excellent EGFR inhibitory activities and anti-proliferative over A549/H446 cells in hypoxia. Meanwhile, several of the above compounds demonstrated better bioactivity than vandetanib in VEGF gene expression inhibition. Owing to the excellent IC(50) value (1.64 μmol/L), the inhibition ratios of 16f over A549 and H446 cells were 62.01% and 59.86% at the concentration of 0.5 μM in hypoxia, respectively. All of these results indicated that 16f was a potential cancer therapeutic agent in hypoxia and was worthy of further development.