Synthesis, Characterization, and Anticancer Activity Study of New Curcumin Analogues against MDA-MB 231 Breast Cancer Cell Line

Synthesis of six new curcumin analogues was performed through condensation reaction of 3-methyl-2, 4-pentandione with substituted aromatic aldehyde derivatives and boron oxide in the presence of trimethylborate and butylamine. The reaction was carried out under ultrasonic irradiation. The synthesized compounds were identified using 1H-, 13C-NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, and electron impact mass spectrometry. The Swiss ADME website was used to predict the physicochemical properties of the new compounds using computational techniques like ADME studies. All produced compounds, according to this study, complies with the Lipinski rule of five. The microculture tetrazolium (MTT) assay was utilized to assess the investigated compounds, in vitro anticancer activity against the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB 231. The results showed that compounds 6 and 2, with IC50 values of 47.78 and 111.8 μg/ml respectively, had potent anticancer activity compared to curcumin with IC50 value of 125.5 μg/ml.