Design, synthesis, and anticancer evaluation of 1,2,4-oxadiazole functionalized quinoline derivatives

A library of 1,2,4-oxadiazole functionalized quinoline derivatives (13a–j) were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and Mass Spectral analysis. Further, these compounds were evaluated for their anticancer activity against four human cancer cell lines, namely MCF-7 (breast), A549 (lung), DU-145 (prostate) and MDA MB-231 (breast) using Etoposide as the positive control. Most of these derivatives exhibited more potent activity towards the four cancer cell lines compared to Etoposide. Amongst all the compounds tested, compounds 13b, 13c, 13h, 13i and 13j exhibited promising activity. Further of these compounds 13b, 13i and 13j exhibited excellent activity, when compared with Etoposide.