Novel coumarin derivatives: Synthesis, anti-breast cancer activity and docking study

A series of coumarin derivatives (1-9) were synthesized with the aim of using them as anticancer agents in clinical trials, and their structures were characterized by IR, H-1 NMR, HRMS, and single crystal X-ray crystallography. Their anticancer activity against four human breast cancer cells including MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, Hst578 and HCC1937 were evaluated in vitro using the MTT assay, and the results showed that compounds 1-3 had more efficient anticancer activity against the four cancer cells, however compounds 4-9 did not show any inhibition. Furthermore, molecular docking studies supported the biological assay data and suggested that compounds 1-3 may be potential anticancer agents.