Design and synthesis of novel 1,2,3,4-tetrazines as new anti-leukemia cancer agents

A series of novel 1,2,3,4-tetrazines were designed and synthesized. ¹H-NMR spectroscopy, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, and HRMS were used to determine the structures of this novel compounds. Computational approaches suggested that DHFR is a putative target for the newly synthesized 11 compounds. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations followed by molecular docking simulations were employed to evaluate DHFR as a potential target protein. The anticancer activities of the compounds were evaluated against five different types of leukemia cell lines (Jurkat, Nalm-6, Reh, K562, and Molt-4) and one non-leukemic cell line (Hek293T) by MTT test in vitro and imatinib was used as a control drug. Among these compounds, 3a exhibited the best activity against all the leukemic cell lines, except Reh cell line. For Nalm-6, K562, Jurkat, and Molt-4 cell lines, IC₅₀ values were found to be 15.98, 19.12, 23.15, and 25.80 μM, respectively. Our work focuses on the synthesis of original and novel 1,2,3,4-tetrazine derivatives while contributing to the ongoing effort to discover more potent new antileukemia agents.