Design, synthesis and antitumor activity of a series of novel coumarin–stilbenes hybrids, the 3-arylcoumarins

A series of novel coumarin–stilbenes hybrids called 3-arylcoumarins were synthesized via Perkin reaction and evaluated as potential antitumor agents. The results showed that some compounds exhibited in vitro activity against KB, KV, MCF-7, MCF-7/ADR cell lines to some extent. Compound 3a showed remarkable effect against KB tumor cells with an IC50 value of 5.18 μmol/L.