Microwave Assisted Synthesis and Evaluation of N-cinnamoyl aryl hydrazones for Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Activities

A series of N-cinnamoyl aryl hydrazones 2a-2i were synthesized in good yields by microwave irradiation technique. The title compounds were formed by nucleophilic condensation of various N1substituted benzylidene-2-cyano aceto hydrazides with N,N-dimethyl amino benzaldehyde. The intermediate N1substituted benzylidene-2-cyano aceto hydrazide was obtained by condensing various substituted benzaldehydes with cyanoacetohydrazide. The structures of the compounds were characterized by IR, 1H NMR and Mass spectra. The antioxidant activity was studied by reduction of DPPH, scavenging of nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide methods with ascorbic acid as the standard drug. The compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity by BSLT method and their ED50 values were compared the standard podophyllotoxin. Among the compounds evaluated, N1benzylidene-2cyano-3-(4-dimethylamino) phenyl acrylo hydrazide (2a) and N1(4-methoxy-benzylidene)-2-cyano3-(4-dimethylamino) phenyl acrylohydrazide (2e) showed good antioxidant activity towards all the three models .The compounds 2a and 2e showed ED50 values 3.07 μg/ml and 3.7 μg/ml respectively which were compared against the standard podophyllotoxin (1.64 μg/ml).