Novel [1,2,3]triazoles, [1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-d]Pyrimidines, and Some of Their Glycoside Derivatives: Synthesis and Molecular Modeling as Potential Apoptotic Antitumor Agents

Two new series of 4,5-difunctionalized 1-bromobenzyl[1,2,3]triazole (2a, 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a) and 4,5-difunctionalized 1-(2-oxo-2-(p-tolylamino)ethyl-[1,2,3]triazole (2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, and 6b) were synthesized using related 1-(azidomethyl)-4-bromobenzene 1a and p-tolylcarbamoyl azide 1b respectively. The substituted [1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine-7-one derivatives (7a, 7b, 8a, and 8b) were synthesized by the reaction of [1,2,3]triazolo derivatives 2a and 2b with carbon disulfide in the presence of 10% sodium hydroxide/dimethylformamide and/or by the reaction with formic acid respectively. The S-glucoside derivatives (9–12) of newly synthesized [1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidines were also synthesized. By using several spectroscopic methods, including IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental analysis, the chemical structures of the novel derivatives were confirmed. The synthetic compounds’ cytotoxicity and in vitro anticancer activity were examined vs. human breast carcinoma (MCF-7), human laryngeal carcinoma (HEP-2), and human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) cell lines. According to the findings, HEP-2 and HCT-116 cells are more sensitive to the tested compounds than the other cell lines. In the HEP-2 and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively, compounds 5b and 11 showed potential anticancer activity when compared to the effect of the commonly used anticancer medication, doxorubicin. The selectivity of compounds against the cancer cell line was confirmed by testing their cytotoxicity on VERO (African Green Monkey kidney) normal cells. The anticancer activity of those compounds is suggested to be due to nuclear damage generated by a high generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, the induction of apoptosis by significantly upregulating the apoptotic genes PAR-4 and BAX while substantially downregulating the anti-apoptotic genes BCL-2 and BCL-xl. Molecular docking research was undertaken to predict the probable binding poses of the most effective drugs in the active site of CDK-2. The more active compounds (2a, 3a,b, 4a,b, 5a,b, 6b, 11, and 12) have been docked on the CDK-2 enzyme to demonstrate their mode of action as anticancer medicines. The compounds exert many interactions and showed high binding to the CDK-2 receptor. Finally, a hypothetical pharmacophore model was created using the Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) software and five compounds that are structurally similar to the synthesized ones with known anticancer action.