Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Computational Studies of 6-Fluoro-3-(Piperidin-4-yl)-1,2-Benzisoxazole Sulfonamide Conjugates

Herein, the synthesis and biological evaluation of 6-fluoro-3-(piperidin-4-yl)benzo[d]isoxazole sulfonamide hybrids are discussed. All the synthesized molecules were assessed for anti-cancer and anti-TB activities using in vitro and in silico methods. The molecular docking study with CDK8 as a possible target for anti-cancer activity demonstrated that compounds 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 have a good binding affinity ranging from −8.7 to −10.3 kcal/mol against CDK8 (PDB 6T41) protein as compared with the standard drug 5-Fluorouracil (−5.0 kcal/mol). The in vitro anti-mycobacterial screening reveals that compounds 2 and 3 elicited moderate anti-TB activity with a MIC value of 25 µM. Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited moderate in vitro anti-proliferative potency against the cancer cell lines MCF-7 and HCT-116. Moreover, compound 3 exhibited a better anti-oxidant effect among all tested compounds. Some quantum chemical parameters and drug-likeness profiling of the molecules were modeled by density functional theory (DFT) and ADME studies. The obtained theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results.