Synthesis, Biological Profile, and Molecular Docking of Some New BisImidazole Fused Templates and Investigation of Their Cytotoxic Potential as Anti-tubercular and/or Anticancer Prototypes
Background: There is a great need to discover more drugs with antimycobacterial activities to fight lung cancer and tuberculosis (two of the deadliest diseases world-wide). To our knowledge, the present study is the first to report antimycobacterial activity of imidazole-fused heterocycles. Objective: Construction of some bis-imidazole fused heterocycles with potential anti-tubercular and/or potent antitumor activities. Method: A series of bis-imidazole fused derivatives 6-8 and 13-16 was constructed using bis-phenacyl bromide derivative 2 as a synthetic platform. Compound 2 was also used to access bis-quinoxaline 20, bis-benzothiazine derivatives 23, and bisthiazolopyrimidine derivatives 26. The new bis-imidazole derivatives were evaluated for their anticancer activity against lung carcinoma cell line (A-549) using Cisplatin as a reference drug. The new compounds were also screened for their antitubercular activity against M. tuberculosis (ATCC 25177) using Isoniazid as a reference drug. Result: Among the new bis-imidazole derivatives, three examples showed remarkable antitumor activities while five other compounds showed high antimycobacterial activity. Conclusion: A novel series of bis-imidazole fused heterocycles was developed. Multiple prototypes of this new series showed remarkable anti-tubercular and/or potent antitumor activities.