Synthesis and anticancer activities of novel 1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-a]phthalazine derivatives.

Trying to develop potent and selective anticancer agents, two series of novel 1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-a]phthalazine derivatives were designed and synthesized. Their antitumor activities were evaluated by MTT method against four selected human cancer cell lines (MGC-803, EC-9706, HeLa and MCF-7). Our results showed that compound 11h exhibited good anticancer activities compared to 5-fluorouracil against the four tested cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 2.0 to 4.5 μM. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that compound 11h induced the cellular early apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase in EC-9706.