Design, synthesis, and antitumor evaluation of new functionalized spiroindenopyridotriazinepyrans

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Main problem in current cancer therapy strategies is resistance to anti-cancer drugs and side effects. Therefore, the design of new compounds with high anticancer activity and low toxicity toward normal cells is highly desirable. In the present study, we focused on the development of novel spiropyran derivatives. A practical one-pot synthetic method was developed for preparation of spiroindenopyridotriazinepyrans containing pyranopyridine, and triazine constituent units within a unified molecular framework. This method employs readily accessible starting materials, proceeds under mild conditions, and affords products that can be purified without chromatographic techniques. The structures of the products were confirmed by NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry. Moreover, we explored the anticancer effects of related products against human pancreatic cancer cells (Panc1), human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) and normal cells HDF (human dermal fibroblast) by using MTT assay and DAPI staining. Our results revealed that 9d, 9e, and 9f compounds have the highest cytotoxic activity on different cancer cells. It seems that these synthetic compounds may be a promising candidate to design therapeutic agents against different cancers.