A series of novel
theophylline-7-acetic acid (acefylline)-derived
1,2,4-triazole hybrids with
N
-phenyl acetamide moieties
(
11a
–
j
) have been synthesized and
tested for their inhibitory (
in vitro
) potential
against two cancer cell lines, A549 (lung) and MCF-7 (breast), using
MTT assay. Among these derivatives,
11a
,
11c
,
11d
,
11g
, and
11h
displayed
remarkable activity against both cancer cell lines having cell viability
values in the 21.74 ± 1.60–55.37 ± 4.60% range compared
to acefylline (86.32 ± 1.75%) using 100 μg/μL concentration
of compounds. These compounds were further screened against the A549
cancer cell line (lung) to find their half-maximal inhibitory concentration
(IC
50
) by applying various concentrations of these compounds.
Compound
11g
(2-(5-((1,3-dimethyl-2,6-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1
H
-purin-7(6
H
)-yl)methyl)-4-phenyl-4
H
-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio)-
N
-
p
-tolylacetamide) with the least IC
50
value (1.25 ±
1.36 μM) was discerned as a strong inhibitor of cancer cell
multiplication in both cell lines (A549 and MCF-7). Their hemolytic
studies revealed that all of them had very low cytotoxicity. Finally,
in silico
modeling was carried out to find the mode of binding
of the highly active compound (
11g
), which was according
to the results of anti-cancer activity.