Synthesis and Transformation of 4‐(1‐chloro‐1‐nitroethyl)‐6,7‐dimethoxy‐2‐methylquinazoline: Spectral Characterization and Anti‐cancer Properties of Some Novel Quinazoline Derivatives

An efficient and simple method has been reported for the synthesis of 4‐(1‐Chloro‐1‐nitroethyl)‐6,7‐dimethoxy‐2‐methylquinazoline (2) as a key compound for further transformation to other novel 6,7‐dimethoxy‐2‐methyl‐4‐substituted quinazolines. The structure of the synthesized compounds was characterized by spectroscopic methods. The pathway of some unprecedented reactions was proposed. (E)‐1‐(6,7‐dimethoxy‐2‐methylquinazolin‐4‐yl)‐3‐(4‐nitrophenyl)prop‐2‐en‐1‐one (11) exhibits high in vitro cytotoxicity on three cell lines, Hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep‐G2), Human lung carcinoma (LU‐1), and Human breast carcinoma (MCF‐7) with IC50 of 2.1, 11.6 and 2.2 μM, respectively.