Abstract

Aim and Objective: Synthesis of new -aminophosphonates containing quinazoline moiety through Kabachnik-Fields reaction in the presence of copper triflate catalyst [32], followed by studying their antimicrobial activities and in vitro anticancer activities against liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2) with the hope that new anticancer agents could be developed. Also, the quantum chemical calculations are performed using density functional theory (DFT) to study the effect of the changes of molecular and electronic structures on the biological activity of the investigated compounds.

Material and Method: The structures of the synthesized compounds are confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 31P NMR and MS spectral data. The synthesized compounds show significant antimicrobial and also remarkable cytotoxicity anticancer activities against liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2). Density functional theory (DFT) was performed to study the effect of the molecular and electronic structure changes on the biological activity.

Results: It was found that the electronic structure of the substituents affects on the reaction yield. The electron withdrawing substituent, NO2 group 3b, on the aromatic aldehydes gave a good yield more than the electron donating substituent, OH group 3c. The electron deficient on the carbon atom of the aldehydic group may increase the interaction of the Lewis acid (Cu(OTf)2) and the Lewis base (imine nitrogen), and accordingly, facilitate the formation of imine easily, which is attacked by the nucleophilic phosphite species to give the α- aminophosphonates.

Conclusion: The newly synthesized compounds exhibit a remarkable inhibition of the growth of Grampositive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi at low concentrations. The cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds showed a significant cytotoxicity against the liver cancer cell line (HepG 2). Also, it was shown from the quantum chemical calculations that the electron-withdrawing substituent increases the biological activity of the α-aminophosphonates more than the electron donating group which was in a good agreement with the experimental results. Also, a good agreement between the experimental FT-IR and the calculated one was found.

Keywords: Antimicrobial agents, Anticancer agents, Quinazolinone derivatives, -aminophosphonates, three-component Kabachnic-Fields reaction, computational studies, natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, vibrational studies.

Graphical Abstract