Exploration of novel quinoline derivatives: Anticancer potential revealed through design, synthesis and biological evaluation

Abstract

A novel series of quinoline derivatives were designed and synthesized for anticancer activity targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase. The structures of all synthesized derivatives were confirmed by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, FTIR and mass spectrometry. Most of the compounds showed good activity against MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cell lines. Compound 4a showed good antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 (IC₅₀ \(=\) 36.07 μM) and HeLa (IC₅₀ \(=\) 17.06 μM) cancer cell lines. Moreover, molecular docking and Prime/MM-GBSA results showed that compound 4a formed hydrogen bonds with Met 769 and Asp 831 residues of EGFR tyrosine kinase (PDB ID: 1M17).