New Tripentone Analogs with Antiproliferative Activity

Tripentones represent an interesting class of compounds due to their significant cytotoxicity against different human tumor cells in the submicro-nanomolar range. New tripentone analogs, in which a pyridine moiety replaces the thiophene ring originating the fused azaindole system endowed with anticancer activity viz 8H-thieno[2,3-b]pyrrolizinones, were efficiently synthesized in four steps with fair overall yields (34–57%). All tripentone derivatives were tested in the range of 0.1–100 μM for cytotoxicity against two human tumor cell lines, HCT-116 (human colorectal carcinoma) and MCF-7 (human breast cancer). The most active derivative, with GI50 values of 4.25 µM and 20.73 µM for HCT-116 a…