Synthesis and Anti-Colon Cancer Activity of 1,2,4-Triazole Derivatives with Aliphatic S-Substituents

A series of new 3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazoles have been designed, synthesized and their structures were identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometric techniques. The target compounds are designed as analogues for the anti-cancer agent Combretastatin A-4 with different aliphatic side substituents. The synthesized novel heterocyclic compounds were evaluated as anticancer molecules against colon cancer cell line (SW480) using the crystal violet cytotoxicity assay. The results revealed that these compounds have growth inhibitive effect on the cancer cells with different inhibition levels. Compound 5a with -SMe group was found to be the most active one with 77.4% cell growth inhibition and 10 µM IC50 value, it was also found to have relatively low cytotoxicity when tested against Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) normal cells line. The levels of the antioxidant total capacity of the synthesized triazoles have been determined by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay against ascorbic acid as a reference antioxidant agent at 50 μM. Compound 4 showed highest antioxidant activity with DPPH radical scavenging capacity of 71%.