The syntheses of nine new 5-iodosalicylic acid-based 1,3,4-oxadiazoline derivatives starting from methyl salicylate are described. These compounds are 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(3-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6a), 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(4-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6b), 2-(4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-4-iodophenyl acetate, CHINO (6c), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate, CHFINO (6d), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate, CHClINO (6e), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(3-bromophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6f), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-bromophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6g), 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(4-methylphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6h) and 2-[5-(4-acetamidophenyl)-4-acetyl-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6i). The compounds were characterized by mass, H NMR andC NMR spectroscopies. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies were also carried out for 6c, 6d and 6e. Compounds 6c and 6d are isomorphous, with the 1,3,4-oxadiazoline ring having an envelope conformation, where the disubstituted C atom is the flap. The packing is determined by C-H...O, C-H...π and I...π interactions. For 6e, the 1,3,4-oxadiazoline ring is almost planar. In the packing, Cl...π interactions are observed, while the I atom is not involved in short interactions. Compounds 6d, 6e, 6f and 6h show good inhibiting abilities on the human cancer cell lines KB and Hep-G2, with IC values of 0.9-4.5 µM.

The title compound N-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-[4-(3-oxo-3-phenylprop-1-en-1-yl)phenoxy]acetamide, C24H21NO4, was prepared from reaction of N-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-chloroacetamide and (E)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one, which was obtained from the reaction of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and acetophenone. The structure of the title compound was determined by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and HR–MS spectroscopic data and further characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The asymmetric unit contains four molecules, each displaying an E-configuration of the C=C bond. The dihedral angle between the phenyl rings in each molecule varies between 14.9 (2) and 45.8 (2)°. In the crystal, C—H...O hydrogen-bonding interactions link the molecules into chains running along the [001] direction. In addition, C—H...π interactions further stabilize the crystal packing. A Hirshfeld analysis indicates that the most important contributions to the surface contacts are from H...H (43.6%), C...H/H...C (32.1%) and O...H/H...O (18.1%) interactions.