Synthesis and In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Pyrrolidone Derivatives Bearing 3,4,5-Trimethoxyphenyl Moiety as a Promising Anticancer Scaffold

A series of 5-oxo-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives–hydrazones, N-ethylhydrazones, pyrrole, pyrazole, oxadiazole, and triazole were synthesized and evaluated for their anticancer activity using human A549 pulmonary epithelial cells (ATCC CCl-185). The in vitro viability inhibitory effects of the compounds were assessed using the MTT assay. The characterization of the anticancer activity of the synthesized compounds showed that the incorporation of 1,3,4-oxadiazolethione and 4-aminotriazolethione rings into the molecular structures obviously enhances the anticancer activity against human A549 lung epithelial cells, reducing their viability to 28.0% and 29.6%, respectively. The anticancer activity of these azole derivatives was significantly higher than that of cytarabine. Further studies are needed to better optimize 5-oxo-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives and enhance their in vitro anticancer activity.