Design, synthesis and docking studies of novel thienopyrimidine derivatives bearing chromone moiety as mTOR/PI3Kα inhibitors.

Two series of thienopyrimidine derivatives (10a-k, 16a-j) bearing chromone moiety were designed and synthesized. All the compounds were evaluated for inhibitory activity against mTOR kinase at a concentration of 10uM. Four selected compounds were further evaluated for the IC50 values against mTOR kinase, PI3Kα kinase and two cancer cell lines. Some of the target compounds exhibited moderate to excellent mTOR/PI3Kα kinase inhibitory activity and cytotoxicity. The most promising compound 16i showed good inhibitory activity against mTOR/PI3Kα kinase and good antitumor potency for H460 and PC-3 cell lines with IC50 values of 0.16 ± 0.03 μM, 2.35 ± 0.19 μM, 1.20 ± 0.23 μM and 0.85 ± 0.04 μM, which were 8.6, >5, 7.9 and 19.1 times more active than compound I (1.37 ± 0.07 μM, >10 μM, 9.52 ± 0.29 μM, 16.27 ± 0.54 μM), respectively. Structure-activity relationships (SARs) and docking studies indicated that the chromone moiety is necessary for the potent antitumor activity and cytotoxicity of these compounds. Substitution of the chromone moiety at the 6-position has a significant impact to the inhibitory activity, in particular a carboxylic acid group, produced the best potency.