Synthesis and anticancer activity assay of novel chalcone sulfonamide derivatives

Chalcones, or 1,3–diaryl–2–propen–1–ones, one of the major classes of natural products and posses many useful properties like anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, anti–inflammatory, antimalarial and anti–diabetic activity. We report in this communication the synthesis and anticancer study of a number of novel chalcone sulfonamides. Our results indicate that the synthesis of chalcone sulfonamide derivatives from the corresponding sulfonyl chlorides proceeds in the absence of solvent at room temperature, with good yields and high purity in relatively short reaction times and according to the principles of green chemistry. All the newly synthesized compounds were assayed for their in vitro anticancer activity against MCF-7. Most of the tested compounds showed anticancer activity less than Tamoxifen except compound 4. This chalcone sulfonamides containing 4–nitrophenyl and aryl sulfonamide group substituted with 4-methoxy (4) showed better anticancer activity than others.