One-Pot Synthesis of Novel 2-Imino-5-Arylidine-Thiazolidine Analogues and Evaluation of Their Anti-Proliferative Activity against MCF7 Breast Cancer Cell Line

An efficient surface-mediated synthetic method to facilitate access to a novel class of thiazolidines is described. The rationale behind the design of the targeted thiazolidines was to prepare stable thiazolidine analogues and evaluate their anti-proliferative activity against a breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Most of the synthesized analogues exhibited increased potency ranging from 2–15-fold higher compared to the standard reference, cisplatin. The most active thiazolidines contain a halogenated or electron withdrawing group attached to the N-phenyl ring of exocyclic 2-imino group. However, combination of the two substituents did not enhance the activity. The anti-proliferative activity was measured in terms of IC(50) values using an MTT assay.