Synthesis and study of cytotoxic activity of novel 3,3-bis(indol-3-yl)-1,3-dihydroindol-2-ones

A series of 3,3-bis(indol-3-yl)-1,3-dihydroindol-2-ones containing substituents at different positions of the oxindole ring were synthesized to study the effect of the position of the substituent on biological activity. Some of the new derivatives showed high in vitro cytotoxic activity (MTT assay) on human tumor cell lines and lower (60 and 150 times less) cytotoxicity on donor human fibroblasts compared to doxorubicin.