Design, click synthesis, anticancer screening and docking studies of novel benzothiazole-1,2,3-triazoles appended with some bioactive benzofused heterocycles

Abstract New series of benzothiazole-1,2,3-triazoles; appended with benzothiazole, isatin and/or benzimidazole moiety; were designed and synthesized through the click chemistry approach. The syntheses proceeded [Cu(I) catalyzed] 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between the appropriate alkyne based benzothiazole, isatin and/or benzimidazole with un/substituted benzothiazole azide. The synthesized compounds were characterized by FT-IR, Mass and NMR methods. The DNA binding constants (Kb) were in the range of 1.732 × 105 to 3.191 × 105 M−1; indicating good binding tendency of the compounds with DNA. Nearly all the compounds intercalated with DNA through the minor grooves via covalent, intercalative and electrostatic bondings. Total nine compounds indicated more than 50% anticancer activities with colorectal (SW182) and lung (H199) cancer cell lines. The docking studies indicated quite good binding affinities (−3.7 to −5.4 kcal/mol) of the reported compounds with DNA. The experimental results of DNA bindings were in good agreement with those of docking studies. The reported compounds may be potential future candidates for anticancer treatment.