2-Aminophenones, a common precursor to N-aryl isatins and acridines endowed with bioactivities

Because N-arylation of isatin only worked with iodoferrocene (and in low yield), we employed N-arylation of 2-aminophenones and subsequent oxidative cyclization to access various N-arylated isatins. In the course of this work, we observed that N-arylation using 2-iodofuran, 2-iodobenzofuran and 2-iodobenzothiophene did not lead to the expected derivatives, but to (benzo)furo- and (benzo)thieno[2,3-b]quinolines. Separate cyclization was also performed under acidic conditions on 2-(arylamino)phenones in order to obtain acridines and related compounds. Most of the synthesized compounds were screened for their antiproliferative activity in A2058 melanoma cells, and against a panel of disease-relevant kinases such as mammalian CDK5/p25, PIM1, CLK1, DYRK1A, GSK3α/β Haspin and leishmanial CK1. The biological results are reported.