Synthesis, Anticancer Activity and Molecular Docking Studies of Hybrid Benzimidazole-1,3,4-Oxadiazol-2-N-Alkyl/Aryl Amines

Abstract

In the present study, the synthesis of benzimdazolyl 2-amino-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (5a-j) and their in vitro anticancer activities against HeLa, MCF7, A549, and HEK293 cell lines were reported. Compound 5f showed most promising anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values 4.68 ± 0.04, 4.16 ± 0.02, 5.40 ± 0.08 µM against the HeLa, MCF-7, and A549 cell lines respectively. Compounds 5b and 5e have also shown excellent anticancer activity with IC₅₀ values 6.07 ± 0.028, 5.30 ± 0.09, 7.16 ± 0.061 µM and 7.56 ± 0.073, 7.20 ± 0.048, 11.30 ± 0.018 µM against the HeLa, MCF-7, and A549 cell lines respectively. The rest of the compounds displayed moderate to good anticancer activity. The tested compounds were nontoxic to normal HEK293 cell lines, and even the more active compounds (5b, 5e, and 5f) also less toxic on HEK-293 cells. Molecular docking results of the synthesized compounds with the target EGFR protein were also discussed.

Keywords:

• 2-Amino-1,3,4-oxadiazoles
• anticancer activity
• EGFR
• molecular docking studies
• MTT assay
• trisubstituted benzimidazoles