Synthesis and Bioevaluation of Quaternary Centered 3-hydroxy-3 (alkynyl)indolin-2- one Derivatives as Potential Cytotoxic Agents and Akt Kinase Inhibitors

An expeditious approach for direct alkynylation of isatins (ketones) has been developed using tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) as a catalyst in THF solvent at room temperature under metal-free conditions. Furthermore this method is an economically viable process that also compliments green aspects like being a ligand/metal free process under ambient conditions. This reaction tolerated a wide range of substrates with good to excellent yields (80-94%). All the 3-hydroxy-3-ethynylindolin-2-one derivatives were subjected for in vitro cytotoxic activity on five different cancer cell lines. Further the synthesized compounds (4m, 4n and 4p) were evaluated for their ability to inhibit Akt kinase activity and exhibited good inhibition with IC50 values ranging from 7.7 to 9.8 µM