Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of coumarin-containing 2,4-diphenylpyrimidine derivatives as novel focal adhesion kinase inhibitors for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

A series of hybrids (8a-h and 11a-h) containing 2,4-diphenylpyrimidine scaffold and coumarin moiety were designed and synthesized as novel focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors for the intervention of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Most compounds effectively suppressed the proliferative of NSCLC cells, and compound 8a was identified as the most active compound with IC value of 0.28 μM in H1299 cells, superior to TAE226 (IC = 2.28 μM). In addition, 8a was also found to inhibit the invasion and migration of NSCLC cells. Furthermore, 8a exhibited potent kinase inhibitory activity of FAK (IC = 4.968 nM) with a considerable selectivity profile against various kinase families, subsequently resulting in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis- inducing as well as the decrease of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in H1299 cells dose-dependently. Moreover, 8a was relatively safe to mice and inhibited the growth of implanted NSCLC tumors more potently than TAE226 in mice. Therefore, 8a may be a promising candidate for the treatment of NSCLC.