Synthesis Of Some N-(Un/Substituted-Phenyl)-2-(4-Phenyl-1-Piperazinyl)Acetamides as Possible Antibacterial and Anticancer Agents with Mild Cytotoxicity

The present work was aimed at evaluating the anti-cancer potential of some new molecules, encompassing pharmacologically potent amide and phenyl piperazine moieties together in their structures. The synthesis was initiated by reaction of various un/substituted anilines (1a-n) with bromo acetyl bromide (2) in aqueous basic medium to obtain various electrophiles, 2-Bromo-N-(un/substituted)phenyl acetamides (3a-n). These electrophiles were then coupled with phenyl piperazine (4) in polar aprotic medium to achieve targeted N-(un/substituted) phenyl-2-(4-phenyl-1-piperazinyl) acetamides (5a-n). The structures of the products were deduced from their IR H-1-NMR, and C-13-NMR spectral data. Antibacterial potential of respective compound was noted that among the series, maximum inhibition was shown by compound 5j against E. coli. These molecules were then evaluated for their anticancer activity using anti-proliferation (SRB) assay on HCT116 Colon Cancer Cell line. We find that compound 5d was the most promising candidate of the series and will serve as lead for the future structure optimizations. The cytotoxicity was shown maximum by the compound 5k while minimum toxicity was recorded in compound 5m. Moreover, substitutions on the piperzine moiety lead to the discovery of less cytotoxic compounds as evident from the cytotoxicity data.