Synthesis of thiazolyl-N-phenylmorpholine Derivatives and their Biological Activities

Background: Morpholine and thiazole rings are two heterocycles which are well-known with a wide spectrum of different biological activities, especially antitumor activity. Objective: The aim of the work is to design and synthesize hybrid heterocyclic compounds of morpholine and thiazole moieties via the reaction of morpholino-thiosemicarbazone derivatives with various alpha-halocarbonyl compounds and screening their antitumor activity against three tumor cell lines namely, TK-10, MCF-7 and UACC-62. Methods: An efficient synthesis of a series of N-phenylmorpholine derivatives linked with thiazole moiety was accomplished. The reaction of N-subistituted-2-(N-phenylmorpholine)ethylidene) hydrazine- 1-carbothioamide (thiosemicarbazone derivative) with acetyl and ester-hydrazonoyl chlorides, alpha-chloroketones, or alpha-bromoesters afforded the corresponding thiazole derivatives pendent to N-phenylmorpholine moiety in good to excellent yields. Results: Mass, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, and elemental analysis were used to confirm the structure of all the new derivatives. The antitumor activities of synthesized N-phenylmorpholine-thiazole derivatives were investigated against three tumor cells namely, TK-10, MCF-7 and UACC-62. The results of such investigation indicated that some derivatives showed good potential to inhibit the growth of the two cells of the tested tumor cells. One of the tested compounds, N-ethyl thiosemicarbazone derivative 7 revealed potent growth inhibition of all the three tumor cells. Conclusion: We have succeeded to synthesize a series of N-phenylmorpholine derivatives pendant to thiazole moiety as antitumor agents.