Development of constrained tamoxifen mimics and their antiproliferative properties against breast cancer cells

An efficient synthesis of a new series of tamoxifen mimics is described by employing iodine catalyzed ipsocyclization strategy followed by Suzuki coupling. A molecular docking studies of the synthesized compounds 11a–n and 12 in estrogen receptor (ER-α) showed that the scaffolds are fitting well in the groove, thereby suggesting them as promising antiproliferative agents for estrogen dependent breast cancer lines. All compounds were tested in vitro against breast cancer cell lines—ER positive, MCF-7; ER negative, MDA-MB-231; and control mammary epithelial cells, MEpiC. The biological results showed that most of the compounds are active against MCF-7 with IC50 values less than 6.5 μM which corroborate the results of molecular docking studies.

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