Novel dibenzo[b,d]furan–1H-1,2,4-triazole derivatives: Synthesis and antitumor activity

Twenty-four new dibenzo[b,d]furan–1H-1,2,4-triazole derivatives were synthesized and investigated for in vitro cytotoxic activity against five tumor cell lines. The results show that the substitution at 4-position of the 1,2,4-triazole with a benzyl, 4-bromophenacyl or naphthylacyl group could be crucial for prommoting cytotoxic activity. Especially, compound 28 was found to be the most powerful derivative with IC50 values lower than 3.50 μM against five investigated tumor cell lines, while compound 19 showed selective activity against leukemia (HL-60) and breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines with IC50 values of 0.80 and 1.76 μM, respectively. Compound 19 can induce cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells.