Semisynthesis of some novel urea, thiourea, carbamimidothioic acid and dihydrooxazole derivatives as a new class of anticancer agents

The natural alkaloid 2-amino-l-phenylpropan-1-ol (1) was utilized in the synthesis of some novel urea (3-5), thiourea (8, 9), carbamimidothioic acids (12, 13) and 4, 5-dihydrooxazoles (14, 15). The structures of the semisynthesized compounds were characterized on the basis of analytical and spectral data. The synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for anticancer activity against the human breast (MCF-7), human liver (HEPG2) and human colon (HCT116) cancer cell lines. Compounds 3, 5 and 8 were the most active against all the cell lines compared with doxorubicin as reference drug. Also, compound 14 exhibited higher activity against human liver (HEPG2) and human colon (HCT116) cancer cell lines when compared with doxorubicin as positive control.