A potential molecular hybridization strategy was used to develop 24 novel pyrazoline-conjugated 2,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylic acid and amide derivatives. The preliminary in vitro antimicrobial assay delivered four potential derivatives with growth inhibition in the range of 50.87-56.60% at the concentration of 32 µg/ml. In the search of an anticancer candidate, all derivatives were screened by NCI-60 at 10 µM concentration, revealing that 12 derivatives were potential agents against the various types of cancer cell lines, with growth inhibition in the range of 50.21-108.37%. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay against the cell line HEK293 (human embryonic kidney cells) and the hemolysis assay of the representative potent compounds propose their potential for a good therapeutic index. In silico studies of the most potent derivatives qualified their significant pharmacokinetic properties with good predicted oral bioavailability and their adherence to Lipinski's rule of five for druglikeness. A molecular docking study against VEGFR-2 with the best-scored conformations reinforced their anticancer potency. The docking study of the most potent compound against VEGFR-2 with the best-scored conformations displayed a binding affinity (-9.5 kcal/mol) comparable with the drug sunitinib (-9.9 kcal/mol) and exhibited that tighter interactions at the active adenosine triphosphate site might be responsible for anticancer potency.
Keywords: 2,4-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole; antimicrobial; antiproliferation; drug discovery; molecular docking.
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