A new series of novel cinnamic acyl sulfonamide derivatives were designed and synthesized and evaluated their anti-tubulin polymerization activities and anticancer activities. One of these compounds, compound 5a with a benzdioxan group, was observed to be an excellent tubulin inhibitor (IC50 = 0.88 µM) and display the best antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 with an IC50 value of 0.17 μg/mL. Docking simulation was performed to insert compound 5a into the crystal structure of tubulin at colchicine binding site to determine the probable binding model. 3D-QSAR model was also built to provide more pharmacophore understanding that could be used to design new agents with more potent anti-tubulin polymerization activity.
Keywords: Anti-tubulin polymerization; Antiproliferative activity; Cinnamic acid; Molecular docking; Sulfonamide.
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