Design, synthesis, and anticancer evaluation of some novel thiourea, carbamimidothioic acid, oxazole, oxazolidine, and 2-amino-1-phenylpropyl-2-chloroacetate derived from L-norephedrine

A novel series of thiourea, carbamimidothioic acid, 4, 5-dihydrooxazole-2-thiol, oxazolidine-2thine, and 2-amino-1-phenylpropyl-2-chloroacetate derivatives was designed and synthesized using 2-amino-1-phenylpropan-1-ol (L-norephedrine) as a strategic starting material. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were established by elemental analyses, IR, and ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectral data. The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against various cancer cell lines. The corresponding acetamide, carbamimidothioic acid, and 2-2-amino-1-phenylpropyl-2-chloroacetate derivatives showed almost the same activity as the standard drug doxorubicin against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Also, the acetamide and 2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one derivatives exhibited higher activity than the reference drug doxorubicin against human colon cancer cell line (HCT 116).