Synthesis, antifungal and antitumor activity of two new types of imidazolin-2-ones

Abstract

Thirty-six imidazolin-2-ones, including ten pairs of benzimidazolones and sixteen imidazopyridines, were synthesized and subjected for the evaluation of antifungal and antitumor activity. Compounds 4a-01, 6-01, 6-04 and 6-06 could effectively inhibit the spore germination and mycelium growth of Botrytis cinerea. The relationship between structure and antifungal activity revealed that the introducing short-chain aliphatic acyl groups at the moiety of imidazopyridines is favorable for the antifungal activity, whereas aromatic acyl groups are much better than aliphatic acyl groups for the activity of benzimidazolones except for acetyl. Preliminary SRB assay indicated that 6-01 exerted strong antiproliferative effect against Hela and NCM460 cell lines. Further kinases assay revealed that 6-01 could specially inhibit mTOR among 114 human cancer related kinases. Elisa and Western blot analysis testified that 6-01 simultaneously inhibits the phosphorylation of Akt and 4E-BP1, and 6-01 is a novel mTOR inhibitor which targets on both mTORC1 and mTORC2. This investigation provided a valuable chemical structure for the development of antitumor drugs.

Keywords: Antifungal activity; Antitumor activity; Benzimidazolones; Imidazopyridines; mTOR.