Anticancer Activities and QSAR Study of Novel Agents with a Chemical Profile of Benzimidazolyl-Retrochalcone

Abstract

The present pharmacochemical and modelling work focused on a benzimidazolyl-chalcone series. These previously synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for their anticancer activities against a panel of seven human cancer cell lines and normal fibroblasts. Among the new benzimidazole-supported chalcones, nine (9) compounds (compounds 1 - 4, 6 - 8 and compounds 10 and 11) showed promising anticancer activities with IC50s ranging from 0.83 to 2.58 μM. Compounds 2 and 6 with IC50s of 0.83 and 0.86 μM, respectively, were shown to be potent inhibitors of HCT-116 colon cancer cell proliferation. It was therefore necessary, for a development of this new series of chalcones, to establish through a QSAR study, their quantum descriptors according to the DFT calculation method and following the B3LYP/6-31+G (d,p) theory. These descriptive and predictive studies focused on the colon HCT 116 cell line which was found to be more sensitive to the anticancer action of our benzimidazolyl-retrochalcones. QSAR study showed that the electronic energy (Eelec), lipophilicity (logP), chemical softness (S) and chemical hardness (η) of benzimidazolyl-retrochalcones play an important role in inhibiting cancer cell proliferation.