Synthesis of dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, their in silico ADMET properties and in vitro antitumor activities

We evaluated the antitumoral activity of diverse series of 5-aryl-dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, AIIQ (Aryl IsoIndolo-Quinoline, 4a–m), and 5-vinyl dihydroisoindolo[2,1-a]quinolin-11-ones, VIIQ (Vinyl IsoIndolo-Quinoline, 6a–l), obtained using three component imino Diels–Alder (DA) reaction of anilines, o-phthalaldehyde and dienophiles. The first series was obtained in previous work employing isoeugenol and anethole as dienophiles, whereas the vinyl series was synthesized in high yields (75–90%) using isoprene as a dienophile. The cytotoxic activity of both AIIQ and VIIQ series was evaluated against four cancer lines, identifying a new lead compound 4h from the AIIQ series, active against MCF-7 (310 nM), SKBR3 (1434 nM), PC3 (210 nM) and HeLa (79 nM) cells with high selectivity. In addition, in silico ADMET properties for the two series were assessed and discussed.