Synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of 1-aryl-3-[4-(pyridin-2-ylmethoxy)phenyl]urea derivatives as new anticancer agents

The diaryl ureas are very important fragments in medicinal chemistry. By means of computer-aided design, 1-aryl-3-[4-(pyridin-2-ylmethoxy)phenyl]urea derivatives were designed and synthesized, and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against A549, HCT-116, PC-3 cancer cell lines, and HL7702 human normal liver cell lines in vitro by using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide colorimetric assay. Most of the target compounds demonstrate significant antiproliferative effects on all the selective cancer cell lines. The calculated IC 50 values were reported. The target compound 1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-{4-{[3-methyl-4-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)pyridin-2-yl]methoxy}phenyl}urea ( 7u ) demonstrated the most potent inhibitory activity (IC 50 = 2.39 ± 0.10 μM for A549 and IC 50 = 3.90 ± 0.33 μM for HCT-116), comparable to the positive-control sorafenib (IC 50 = 2.12 ± 0.18 μM for A549 and IC 50 = 2.25 ± 0.71 μM for HCT-116). Conclusively, 1-aryl-3-[4-(pyridin-2-ylmethoxy)phenyl]urea derivatives as the new anticancer agents were discovered, and could be used as the potential BRAF inhibitors for further research.