A novel series of 4-(4-Methoxyphenyl)-2-(methylthio)pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile was developed linked to an aromatic moiety
via N
-containing bridge and then evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and K562 cell lines. Seven compounds exhibited the highest activity against both cell lines where compounds
4d
and
7f
were the most active against K562 cell line. Exploring their molecular mechanisms by enzyme inhibition assay on PI3Kδ/γ and AKT-1 showed that compound
7f
was promising more than
4d
with IC
50
= 6.99 ± 0.36, 4.01 ± 0.55, and 3.36 ± 0.17 uM, respectively. Also, flowcytometric analysis revealed that
7f
caused cell cycle arrest at S-phase followed by caspase 3 dependent apoptosis induction. Mechanistically, compound
7f
proved to modulate the expression of PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT, p-AKT, Cyclin D1, and NFΚβ. Furthermore,
in-vivo
toxicity study indicated good safety profile for
7f
. These findings suggest that the trimethoxy derivative
7f
has strong potential as a multi-acting inhibitor on PI3K/AKT axis targeting breast cancer and leukaemia.