Microwave-assisted single step cinnamic acid derivatization to mimic vanillin isomer and their cytotoxic potential

BACKGROUND: Cinnamic acid, a phenolic compound plays a crucial role in the formation of the secondary metabolites in plants using different pathways. Decalepis arayalpathra have plenty of secondary metabolite 2-hydroxy 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (HMB) present in its roots. OBJECTIVE: The study is conducted to confirm the presence of HMB and its precursor, i.e. the cinnamic acid in D. arayalpathra tuber and value addition in cinnamic acid for anticancer lead potential. METHODS: A green and one step solvent free scheme has also been designed for the modification of cinnamic acid with the help of kitchen microwave to examine its therapeutic potential as well as reducing the general reaction time. The synthesized derivatives were then assessed for their anticancer potential against six human cancer cell lines (K-562, WRL-68, A549, A431, MCF-7, and COLO-201) at 2, 10 and 50 μg/ml concentrations. RESULTS: Among the synthesized derivatives β-bromostyrene and β-nitrostyrene were found to be cytotoxic products. The β-bromostyrene showed maximum inhibition against MC-7 cell line (IC50=18.46 μg/mL) and β-nitrostyrene showed maximum inhibition against A431 cell line (IC50=4.58 μg/mL). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the present study gives a very reliable and simple method for isolation of HMB and cinnamic acid modification that efficiently reduces the reaction time and proves to be friendly with environment.