Synthesis, characterization and molecular docking studies of phenoxyimine based ligands: Cytotoxicity, hemolytic activity and antioxidant assessment

A series of phenoxyimine compounds were designed and synthesized by the condensation of different substituted salicylaldehyde and aniline at the molar ratio of 1:1 in one step reaction. All synthesized compounds were characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques. All compounds were screened for cytotoxicity activities against different cancer cell lines. Compound 3 exhibits significant cytotoxic activity with an IC50 value of 1.099 mu M, 1.132 mu M against COLO-205 (Colorectal adenocarcinoma) and A549 (Lung carcinoma) cell line respectively, while compound 4 exhibits noteworthy cytotoxic activity with an IC50 value of 0.52 mu M against MDA-MB-231(Breast adenocarcinoma). Similarly, other compounds also exhibited good cytotoxicity properties. Furthermore, the phenoxyimine compounds showed the greatest antioxidant activity against DPPH radicals. The nontoxic activity was confirmed by cytocompatibility assay on L929 normal cell line and hemolysis assay on human red blood cells. Additionally, in silico molecular docking of all compounds were carried out against EGFR, HER-2 and VEGF. Compound 3 having minimum binding energy delta Gb =-8.81 kcal/mol, delta Gb =-10.49 kcal /mol, delta Gb =-9.99 kcal /mol, was bound into the active pocket of EGFR, HER-2 and VEGF respectively. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.