Design, synthesis, in-silico study and anticancer potential of novel n-4- piperazinyl-ciprofloxacin-aniline hybrids.

Synthesis and characterization of novel structural hybrids of ciprofloxacin linked with a variety of anilides have been described in this paper. Antitumor activity of these derivatives was assessed against liver cell line (Huh-7) using MTT assay. Among the synthesized derivatives, compound 6a inhibited the growth of tumor cells by displaying 68.36% cell viability at 100 μg/mL concentration which was then in-silico modelled to delineate the potential mechanistic insights for its antiproliferative activity. The PASS prediction indicated the TopII as potential anticancer target of compound 6a. The induced fit docking revealed that compound 6a inhibits the TopII with superior binding affinity and forms stronger contacts with active site's key residues responsible for DNA-TopII intercalation and catalytic inhibition consistent with its cytotoxic potential. Therefore, compound 6a can be considered as a potential lead for further optimization in the development of ciprofloxacin-derived anticancer drugs.