Gold-catalyzed oxazoles synthesis and their relevant antiproliferative activities

Abstract Nine 5-aryl-2-methyloxazole derivatives were synthesized via gold-catalyzed alkyne oxidation. All of the compounds have been screened for their antiproliferative activities against MCF-7 cell (human breast carcinoma), A549 cell (human lung carcinoma) and Hela cell (human cervical carcinoma) lines in vitro . The results revealed that compounds 1b , 1c and 1d exhibited strong inhibitory activities against the MCF-7 cell lines (with IC 50 values of 4.6, 9.7 and 2.2 μmol/L, respectively).