Biological Evaluation of New Schiff Bases: Synthesized from 4-Amino-3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-triazole, Phenathroline and Bipyridine Dicarboxaldehydes

Four new Schiff bases with promising anticancer activity have been synthesized from 4-amino-3,5-dimethyl-1,2,4-triazole and di-pyridyl-aldehydes. Structures have been established by various spectroscopic methods. The compounds were tested in vitro to study their cytotoxicity and anti-oxidative activity in human lung carcinoma (A549), breast carcinoma (BT549), prostate adenocarcinoma (PC3) and mouse preadipocytes (3T3-L1) cells. Compound 1 was found to increase Glutathione (GSH) level slightly in all four cell lines. Compound 4 showed better selectivity and cytotoxicity against both BT549 and A549 cells compared to the anticancer drug tamoxifen. With the exception of compound 4 which reduced GSH levels in A549 and BT549, all other compounds maintained GSH levels in comparison to their respective controls.