Synthesis and antitumor evaluation of thiophene based azo dyes incorporating pyrazolone moiety

A series of thiophene incorporating pyrazolone moieties 5a–f and 6a–c were synthesized via diazo coupling of diazonium salt of 3-substituted-2-amino-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophenes 1a–c with 3-methyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one, 3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one or 3-amino-1H-pyrazol-5(4H)-one, respectively. Newly synthesized dyes were applied to polyester fabric as disperse dyes in which their color measurements and fastness properties were evaluated. These dyes showed generally red to blue shifted color with high extinction coefficient in comparison with aniline-based azo dyes. The antitumor activity of the synthesized dyes was evaluated. The results showed clearly that most of them exhibited good activity and compounds 5c and 5d exhibited moderate activity.