Study on one-pot four-component synthesis of 9-aryl-hexahydro-acridine-1,8-diones using SiO2-I as a new heterogeneous catalyst and their anticancer activity

A simple, efficient and cost-effective method for the synthesis of 9-aryl-hexahydro-acridine-1,8-diones by a one-pot four-component cyclocondensation of dimedone, aromatic aldehydes and ammonium acetate as a nitrogen source in the presence of a new heterogeneous catalyst silica iodide (SiO2-I) in EtOH at 80 °C is described. SiO2-I was subjected to SEM-EDX and found to have iodo group bound to the catalyst. Some of the prepared acridine-diones were found to exhibit promising anti-cancer activity against HepG2 and MCF-7 cells.