In vitro and in silico studies of antioxidant activity of 2-thiazolylhydrazone derivatives

Abstract

The antioxidant potential of a series of thiazolylhydrazone derivatives was investigated using three different methods namely DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays. In general, the tested compounds showed higher or comparable activity to that of curcumin, used as positive control. Chemometric analyses demonstrated that the presence of hydrazone moiety is required for the activity of this class of compounds. From these results, compound 4 was identified as the most promising molecule and was then selected for further studies. The antiproliferative effect of compound 4 was evaluated, being active in three (T47D, MDA-MB-231 and SKMEL) of the six cancer cell lines tested, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 15.9 to 31.3 μM. Compound 4 exhibited no detectable cytotoxic effect on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) when tested at a concentration of 100 μM, demonstrating good selectivity. From these results, it is possible to infer that there is a correlation between antioxidant capacity and anticancer effects.

Keywords: 2-Thiazolylhydrazone; Antioxidant activity; Chemometric; Cytotoxic activity.