Discovery of a Uracil‐Derived Small Organic Ligand with Cytotoxic Effect on Human PC‐3 Cell Lines <i>via</i> Apoptosis

Abstract A series of novel 6‐amino‐5‐salicylidene uracils (1–19) were efficiently synthesized from the condensation reaction of 5,6‐diamino‐1,3‐dimethyluracil with substituted salicylaldehydes. The structural characterization of the compounds was performed with spectroscopic methods and elemental analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against PC‐3 (human prostate adenocarcinoma), A549 (human alveolar adenocarcinoma) and SHSY‐5Y (human neuroblastoma) cancer cell lines. 3,5‐di‐ tert ‐Butylsalicylaldehyde derived salicylideneuracil (6ASU‐8) showed promising cytotoxic activity against PC‐3 cells with an IC 50 value of 1.53±1.01 μM, compared to doxorubicin, which had an IC 50 value of 3.77±1.34 μM. 6ASU‐8 induced cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and promoted apoptosis in PC‐3 cells ( p &lt;0.05*). Molecular docking results supported the experimental data, indicating that 6ASU‐8 is more effective than doxorubicin. Additionally, in silico ADME analysis revealed that 6ASU‐8 possesses acceptable predictive physicochemical properties.