Synthesis, Molecular Docking Screening and Anti-Proliferative Potency Evaluation of Some New Imidazo[2,1-b]Thiazole Linked Thiadiazole Conjugates

Background: Imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole scaffolds were reported to possess various pharmaceutical activities. Results: The novel compound named methyl-2-(1-(3-methyl-6-(p-tolyl)imidazo[2,1-b]thiazol-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazine-1-carbodithioate 3 acted as a predecessor molecule for the synthesis of new thiadiazole derivatives incorporating imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole moiety. The reaction of 3 with the appropriate hydrazonoyl halide derivatives 4a–j and 7–9 had produced the respective 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives 6a–j and 10–12. The chemical composition of all the newly synthesized derivatives were confirmed by their microanalytical and spectral data (FT-IR, mass spectrometry, (1)H-NMR and (13)C-NMR). All the produced novel compounds were screened for their anti-proliferative efficacy on hepatic cancer cell lines (HepG(2)). In addition, a computational molecular docking study was carried out to determine the ability of the synthesized thiadiazole molecules to interact with active site of the target Glypican-3 protein (GPC-3). Moreover, the physiochemical properties of the synthesized compounds were derived to determine the viability of the compounds as drug candidates for hepatic cancer. Conclusion: All the tested compounds had exhibited good anti-proliferative efficacy against hepatic cancer cell lines. In addition, the molecular docking results showed strong binding interactions of the synthesized compounds with the target GPC-3 protein with lower energy scores. Thus, such novel compounds may act as promising candidates as drugs against hepatocellular carcinoma.