Abstract
One of the worst diseases, cancer claims millions of lives each year throughout the world, necessitating the creation of novel treatments. In this study, we designed a novel series of 1,3,4-thiadiazoles through the reaction of 2-(4-methyl-2-(2-(1-phenylethylidene)hydrazineyl)thiazole-5-carbonyl)-N-phenylhydrazine-1-carbothioamide (3) with the proper hydrazonoyl halides. Using the MTT assay, the newly synthesized thiadiazoles' growth-inhibitory potential against the liver cancer cell line HepG2-1 was assessed. In comparison to the standard drug doxorubicin (IC
50
= 0.72 ± 0.52 µM), the results showed that two compounds, 16b and 21 (IC
50
= 0.69 ± 0.41 and 1.82 ± 0.94 µM, respectively) had promising anticancer activity. The structural activity relationship (SAR) was investigated. In addition, molecular docking analysis onto quinone oxidoreductase2 (NQO2) receptor (PDB: 4ZVM) was investigated against the potent compounds to examine the reliability of the in vitro results. The newly prepared thiadiazole-thiazole hybrids are therefore regarded as potent anticancer drugs.