Synthesis and biological screening of a combinatorial library of beta-chlorovinyl chalcones as anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agents.

A combinatorial library of beta-chlorovinyl chalcones (4) were synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction. Catalytic reaction of substituted 3-chloro-3-phenyl-propenal (2) and 1-(2,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-ethanone or 1-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-ethanone (3) in alkaline conditions furnished the target compound 5-chloro-1-(2,4-dimethoxy-phenyl)-5-phenyl-penta-2,4-dien-1-one (4). The synthesized compounds were screened for their biological activity viz. anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. Synthesized compounds 4g and 4h revealed promising anti-inflammatory activity (66-67% TNF-alpha and 95-97% IL-6 inhibitory activity at 10 microM). Cytotoxicity of the compounds checked using CCK-8 cell lines and found to be nontoxic to slightly toxic. Furthermore, the anticancer activity (30-40%) was shown by compounds 4d, 4e, 4h and 4b at 10 microM concentrations against ACHN followed by Calu 1, Panc1, HCT116 and H460 cell lines. Some of the compounds 4d, 4e, 4a, 4i and 4b revealed promising antimicrobial activity at MIC 50-100 microg/mL against selected pathogenic bacteria and fungi.