Synthesis, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxicity evaluation of 9,10-dihydroanthracene-9,10-α,β-succinimide and bis-succinimide derivatives

9,10-Dihydroanthracene-9,10-α,β-succinimide derivatives 4a–e and bis-succinimide derivatives 6a–e have been synthesized by grinding 9,10-dihydroanthracene-9,10-α,β-succinic anhydride 2 with various mono 3a–e and diamines 5a–e in quantitative yields. All the target compounds were fully characterized by spectrometric and spectroscopic means. Compounds 4a–e, 6a–e and recently reported compounds 4f–p were screened for anti-inflammatory and for cytotoxicity against five human cancer cell lines: T47D, NCI H-522, HCT-15, PA1, and HepG-2. Compounds 4e, 4i, 4j, and 4p exhibited good anti-inflammatory activity and compounds with interesting cytotoxic profile were 4c, 6e (T47D); 4e, 4o (NCI H-522); 4n (HCT-15); 4e, 4h, 4o (PA1); and 4a, 4e, 4f, 4i, 4o (HepG-2).