Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of some novel indenospiro derivatives as anticancer agents

Abstract The present work describes sustainable, catalyst free and bio-oriented multicomponent synthesis of 2-amino-3-cynospiro (5H-indeno[1,2- b ]pyran-4,3′-indoline)-2′5,-dione using isatin, malononitrile and 1,3-indandione. This study provides a facile synthesis of indeno-spiro compounds and is further supported with molecular docking, physico-chemical parameter and cytotoxicity study. The synthesized compounds were screened against breast carcinoma cell lines (MCF7, MDA-MB-435) and normal Vero monkey cell lines. Among all the tested compounds, the bromo- and chloro- substituted indeno-fused spirooxindole derivatives (entry B and D) were found to show selective potency against the MDA-MB-435 cancer cell lines exhibiting GI 50 value of 1.8 and 2.1 µM respectively. The selected compounds were also screened against the normal Vero monkey cell line, which showed good to excellent selectivity against inhibition of cancer cells. Furthermore, the in vitro confocal microscopy cell imaging of selected compounds showed cellular shrinkage and apoptosis in the cancer cells suggesting that the indeno-fused spirooxindoles can be explored as selective estrogen negative receptors with a safety profile.