The parent ester methyl-3-[2-(4-oxo-3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-phthalazin-1-yloxy)-acetylamino]
has 18 compounds. The starting material for alkanoates, their corresponding
hydrazides, hydrazones, and dipeptides were produced by chemoselective
O-alkylation of 2-phenyl-2,3-dihydrophthalazine-1,4-dione with ethyl
chloroacetate(4-oxo-3-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-phthalazin-1-yloxy) acetic
acid methyl ester. The starting ester was hydrazinolyzed, then azide
coupled with amino acid ester hydrochloride to produce several parent
esters, and then hydrazinolyzed to produce parent hydrazides. These
hydrazides were used to make a series of dipeptides by reacting them
with amino acid ester hydrochloride under azide coupling conditions,
and they were also condensed with a number of aldehydes to make the
hydrazones. These derivatives were subjected to cytotoxicity against
HCT-116 and MDA-MB-231 cells and anti-bacterial and molecular docking
studies. Results indicated that the tested compounds, especially
7c
and
8b
with the phenyl phthalazinone moieties,
had promising cytotoxicity against the HCT-116 cells with IC
50
values of 1.36 and 2.34 μM, respectively. Additionally, the
promising compounds
7c
and
8b
exhibited
poor cytotoxicity against WISH cells with much higher IC
50
values, so they were safe against normal cells. Compound
8c
exhibited potent anti-bacterial activity with inhibition zones of
12 and 11 mm against
Staphylococcus aureus
and
Escherichia coli
, respectively.
The molecular docking results of compounds
7c
and
8b
revealed a good binding disposition and the ligand–receptor
interactions like the co-crystallized ligand of the VEGFR2 protein,
which may be the proposed mode of action. Finally, compounds
7c
and
8b
exhibited good ADME pharmacokinetics
with good drug-likeness parameters. Hence, detailed studies for the
mechanism of action of such compounds are highly recommended for the
development of new potent anti-cancer and anti-bacterial agents.