2-Thienyl-4-furyl-6-aryl pyridine derivatives: synthesis, topoisomerase I and II inhibitory activity, cytotoxicity, and structure-activity relationship study.

Designed and synthesized 60 2-thienyl-4-furyl-6-aryl pyridine derivatives were evaluated for their topoisomerase I and II inhibitory activities at 20 microM and 100 microM and cytotoxicity against several human cancer cell lines. Compounds 8, 9, 11-29 showed significant topoisomerase II inhibitory activity and compounds 10 and 11 showed significant topoisomerase I inhibitory activity. Most of the compounds (7-21) possessing 2-(5-chlorothiophen-2-yl)-4-(furan-3-yl) moiety showed higher or similar cytotoxicity against HCT15 cell line as compared to standards. Most of the selected compounds displayed moderate cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HeLa, DU145, and K562 cell lines. Structure-activity relationship study revealed that 2-(5-chlorothiophen-2-yl)-4-(furan-3-yl) moiety has an important role in displaying biological activities.