Synthesis, characterization and in silico studies of coumarin-chalcone derivatives and their cytotoxicity activity against breast cancer cells

Breast carcinoma disease is the most common ailment affecting women globally. Despite relentless efforts by scientists, numerous scientific strategies have been blocked by the aggressive nature of cancer cells, impeding their invasion, and spread to neighbouring tissues. This study aimed on evaluating the cytotoxic effects of newly synthesized coumarin chalcone compounds on breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7). The findings were compared with computational data derived from computer-assisted software and the Swiss ADME web tool. Molecular docking analyses indicated that all the synthesized compounds satisfied Lipinski's criteria. Furthermore, results from cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that compounds 5A, 5B, and 7A displayed significant efficacy against MCF-7 cells with IC50 (6.44 f 0.64 mu M, 8.48 f 1.06 mu M, 9.02 f 0.96 mu M), this finding indicated that the compounds highlighted above demonstrated greater cytotoxic effects against human breast cancer cells MCF-7 than the control drug Tamoxifen (IC50 = 17.42 f 1.48 mu M). Therefore, compounds 5A, 5B, and 7A could be considered promising compounds against MCF-7.