Ionic Liquids Immobilized Synthesis of New Xanthenes Derivatives and their Antiproliferative, Molecular Docking, and Morphological Studies

Background:: Xanthenes and benzoxanthenesare are highly valuable compounds in organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. Xanthene derivatives were found to have many applications in medicinal chemistry. Objective:: This work aims to explore the synthesis of xanthene derivatives with various substituents and find the possibility of their uses as anticancer agents. Method:: The basic starting compound through this work was the 2,3-dihydro-1H-xanthen-1-one (3), which was synthesized from the reaction of cyclohexan-1,3-dione and 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. Compound 3 synthesized new thiophene, pyrimidine, isoxazole, and thiazole derivatives based on the xanthenes nucleus. Fused xanthene derivatives were obtained through further heterocyclization reactions. Multicomponent reactions expressed in this work were carried out in the presence of solvent catalyzed by Et3N and in solvent-free ionic liquid immobilized catalyst. Results:: Cytotoxicity for the newly synthesized compounds toward cancer cell lines was measured, and the results revealed that many compounds exhibited high inhibitions. Conclusion:: The antiproliferative activity of the synthesized compounds was studied on six selected cancer cell lines. The nature of the heterocyclic ring and the variations of substituted groups showed a high effect through the inhibitions of the tested compound.