A series of latonduine
and indoloquinoline derivatives
HL
1
–
HL
8
and their copper(II)
complexes (
1–8
) were synthesized and comprehensively
characterized. The structures of five compounds (
HL
6
,
[CuCl(L
1
)(DMF)]·DMF
,
[CuCl(L
2
)(CH
3
OH)]
,
[CuCl(L
3
)]·0.5H
2
O
, and
[CuCl
2
(H
2
L
5
)]Cl·2DMF
) were elucidated
by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The copper(II) complexes revealed
low micro- to sub-micromolar IC
50
values with promising
selectivity toward human colon adenocarcinoma multidrug-resistant
Colo320 cancer cells as compared to the doxorubicin-sensitive Colo205
cell line. The lead compounds
HL
4
and
4
as well as
HL
8
and
8
induced apoptosis efficiently in Colo320 cells. In addition, the
copper(II) complexes had higher affinity to DNA than their metal-free
ligands.
HL
8
showed selective inhibition for
the PIM-1 enzyme, while
8
revealed strong inhibition
of five other enzymes, i.e., SGK-1, PKA, CaMK-1, GSK3β, and
MSK1, from a panel of 50 kinases. Furthermore, molecular modeling
of the ligands and complexes showed a good fit to the binding pockets
of these targets.