Synthesis, crystal structure, biological evaluation, electronic aspects of hydrogen bonds, and QSAR studies of some new N -(substituted phenylurea) diazaphosphore derivatives as anticancer agents

A new series of 2-[N-(R-phenylureido)]-1,3,2-diazaphosphore-2-oxide derivatives (R = CH3, F, NO2, CN) were synthesized and characterized by 31P, 1H, 13C NMR and FT-IR spectral techniques. All the compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against some Gram-positive, Gram-negative strains of bacteria, as well as for their cytotoxic effects on MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, PC-3, HeLa, and K562 human cell lines. In vitro activity results exhibited an important role for six-membered diaza ring in both assays as well as high effect of meta-methyl and ortho-fluoro substitutes on the aromatic ring against the studied human cell lines and B. subtilis bacteria, respectively. To understand the correlation between the anticancer activity and physicochemical properties of the synthesized compounds, the QSAR studies were carried out. Further, the crystal structure of compound 15 was investigated and revealed that the title derivative is composed of two symmetrically independent molecules in the solid state with anti configuration the C=O versus P=O. NBO and AIM analyses were performed to investigate electronic aspects of hydrogen bonding of the crystal cluster, which play an extremely important role in biochemical systems.