Novel quinazolinone derivatives as anticancer agents: Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and computational studies.

• A novel series of quinazoline-pyrimidine derivatives (3a - 3i) linked to different aryl substitutions were designed and synthesized as promising anti-cancer candidates. • Compounds 3d and 3f were found to be the most active compounds against the SW480 cell line, with IC 50 = 1.1 and 8 μM, respectively. • Molecular docking, pharmacokinetic profiles, and DFT analysis were performed to investigate the interactions between ligands and EGFR targets and the drug-likeness of the synthesized compounds. • The result of MD simulation revealed that 3d ligand was stable in the active site of EGFR receptor and confirm docking study. A novel series of quinazoline-pyrimidine derivatives (3a - 3i) linked to different aryl substitutions were designed and synthesized as promising anti-cancer candidates. The Chemical structures of the new compounds were confirmed by IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR, and Mass spectroscopy. Antiproliferative activities of all synthesized compounds were evaluated against MCF-7 and SW480 cell lines by the MTT method. The biological results exhibited IC 50 values in the range of 1.1 to 59.0 μM. Compounds 3d and 3f were found to be the most active compounds against the SW480 cell line, with IC 50 = 1.1 and 8 μM respectively. Furthermore, in silico analyses of the Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity (ADMET) profiles of the synthesized compounds exhibited that our molecules have acceptable predictive ADMET features. The results of the docking studies were in line with biological outputs, Density functional theory (DFT) studied 3a and 3d 's reactivity descriptors at the B3LYP/6-31G** level of theory. HOMO, LUMO, and electrostatic surface potential energy were also examined. According to DFT calculations, compound 3d exhibits higher reactivity than compound 3a , which is consistent with the experimental observations. Molecular dynamic simulation of the potent synthetic compound (3d) and native ligand (Erlotinib) was performed to validate the docking study and also, RMSD, RMSF, total hydrogen bond, and clusters were analyzed. A novel series of quinazoline-pyrimidine derivatives (3a - 3i) were designed and synthesized as promising anti-cancer agents. The antiproliferative activity of all compounds was investigated against two cancerous cell lines (SW480 and MCF-7) by using an MTT assay. A docking study and MD simulation were performed to validate the biological outputs. Furthermore, in silico analysis of the ADME profile of compounds and DFT analysis was also investigated. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]