Synthesis, characterization, molecular docking and cytotoxic activity of novel plumbagin hydrazones against breast cancer cells

Novel plumbagin hydrazonate 3 is found to be more cytotoxic than parent plumbagin naphthoquinone against hormone responsive MCF-7, non-responsive MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 triple negative breast cancer cells. Docking studies indicate that hydroxyl groups in plumbagin and its hydrazonate side chain favoring additional hydrogen bonding interactions with amino acid residues in p50-subunit of NF-κB may be responsible for the enhanced anti-proliferative activity.