Abstract
Novel anthracenone derivatives were designed through in silico studies including 3D QSAR, pharmacophore mapping, and molecular docking approaches. Tubulin protein was explored for the residues imperative for activity by analyzing the binding pattern of colchicine and selected compounds of anthracenone derivatives in the active domain. The dockingmethodology applied in the study was first validated by comparative evaluation of the predicted and experimental inhibitory activity. Furthermore, the essential features responsible for the activity were established by carrying out pharmacophore mapping studies. 3D QSAR studies were carried out for a series of 1,5-and 1,8-disubstituted10-benzylidene-10H-anthracen-9-ones and 10-(2-oxo-2-phenylethylidene)10H- anthracen-9-one derivatives for their antiproliferation activity. Based on the pattern recognition studies obtained from QSAR results, ten novel compounds were designed and docked in the active domain of tubulin protein. One of the novel designed compounds "N1" exhibited binding energy -9.69 kcal/mol and predicted Ki 78.32 nMwhich was found to be better than colchicine.