Abstract
A series of new 2-oxo-1,4-disubstituted-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-benzo[h]quinoline-3-carbonitriles supported with various pharmacophoric functionalities at position-1 is described. N-formyl, N-nitroso, N-arylthiocarbamoyl, N-alkyl, N-sulfonyl, and N-acetyl derivatives, 5-10 were prepared. A novel fused triazole series was also prepared. The in vitro anticancer activity of twenty synthesized compounds, 4a, 4b, 7a2, 7b2 and 8b1 showed considerable cytotoxic activity against the three tested human tumor cell lines. Compounds 7a2 and 7b2 proved to be the most active with special effect against the human colon carcinoma HT29 and human breast cancer MCF 7 cell lines. Compounds 7b2 and 7f2 also exhibited significant antivirus activity against hepatitis-C virus.