Arylhydrazono/Aryldiazenyl Pyrazoles: Green One-Pot Solvent-Free Synthesis and Anticancer Evaluation

The aim of this study was to synthesize and evaluate the biological activity of pyrazole derivatives, in particular, to perform a "greener" one-pot synthesis using a solvent-free method as an alternative strategy for synthesizing hydrazono/diazenyl-pyridine-pyrazole hybrid molecules with potential anticancer activity. Effective treatment for all types of cancers is still a long way in the future due to the severe adverse drug reactions and drug resistance associated with current drugs. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop safer and more effective anticancer agents. In this context, some hybrid analogues containing the bioactive pharmacophores viz. pyrazole, pyridine, and diazo scaffolds were synthesized by one-pot method. Herein, we describe the expedient synthesis of pyrazoles by a onepot three-component condensation of ethyl acetoacetate/acetylacetone, isoniazid, and arenediazonium salts under solvent-free conditions, and the evaluation of their cytotoxicity using a sulforhodamine B assay on three cancer cell lines. Molecular docking studies employing tyrosine kinase were also carried out to evaluate the binding mode of the pyrazole derivatives under study. 1-(4-Pyridinylcarbonyl)-3-methyl-4-(2-arylhydrazono)-2-pyrazolin-5-ones and [4-(2-aryldiazenyl)-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]-4-pyridinylmethanones, previously described, were prepared using an improved procedure. Among these ten products, 1-isonicotinoyl-3-methyl-4-[2-(4-nitrophenyl)hydrazonol]-2-pyrazolin-5-one (1f) displayed promising anticancer activity against the MCF-7, HepG2 and HCT-116 cell lines, with an IC50 value in the range of 0.2-3.4 mu M. In summary, our findings suggest that pyrazoles containing hydrazono/diazenyl and pyridine pharmacophores constitute promising scaffolds for the development of new anticancer agents.