Design, synthesis of novel substituted imidazole derivatives: Cytotoxicity and molecular docking studies

A novel series of 5-(2-chlorophenyl)-4-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-(substituted phenyl)-1H-imidazole derivatives 3(a-m) were synthesized by one pot synthesis of diketone, aldehyde and ammonium acetate. The structures of novel compounds were established by interpretation of IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and Mass spectral data. Evaluated their invitro anticancer activity against human cervical cancer HeLa cell line by MTT assay using Cisplatin as standard reference drug. Compounds 3e (R₃ = 4-cyanophenoxy), 3c (R₃ = 2-nitrophenoxy) and 3 g (R₂ = 4-nitrophenoxy & R₃ = methoxy) exhibited outstanding activity against the HeLa cell line with IC₅₀ value of 2.7 ± 0.4351 μM, 4.824 ± 0.8869 μM and 6.877 ± 0.6042 μM respectively, compared to Cisplatin IC₅₀ value of 7.06 ± 0.36 μM. Molecular docking simulations were performed against the crystal epidermal growth factor receptor ensued the best docking scores and thought-provoking binding interactions compared to co-crystalized ligand Erlotinib.