Uses of ethyl benzoylacetate for the synthesis of thiophene, thiazole, pyridine, and pyran derivatives with antitumor activities

The reaction of ethyl benzoylacetate with malononitrile in an oil bath at 120°C gave the condensation product 3. The latter compound underwent a series of heterocyclization to give thiophene, thiazole, pyridine, and pyran derivatives. The structures of the synthesized products were established on the basis of analytical and spectral data. The antitumor evaluation of the newly synthesized products against the six cancer cell lines namely human gastric cancer (NUGC and HR), human colon cancer (DLD1), human liver cancer (HA22T and HEPG2), human breast cancer (MCF), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (HONE1), and normal fibroblast cells (WI38) indicated that many compounds expressed high inhibition against the six cancer cell lines. Compounds 3, 8a, 8c, 14b, 16b, 16c, 16d, 19a, 19b, 20a, 22a, 27b, and 28a were the most cytotoxic compounds among the tested compounds.