A number of 5-arylisatin derivatives were synthesized in 5-6 steps from readily available starting materials. Their structures were confirmed by 1H NMR and 13C NMR as well as LC/MS. The cytotoxicity of these novel isatins against human leukemia K562 cells were evaluated by MTT assay in vitro. SAR studies indicated that the N-substituted benzyl and C-5 substituted phenyl groups greatly enhance their cytotoxic activity, whereas an intact carbonyl functionality on C-3 present in the parent ring is required to maintain such a potency. Particularly, N-(p-methoxybenzyl)-5-(p-methoxyphenyl)isatin (compound 2m) showed the highest antitumor activity against K562 cell lines (IC50 = 0.03 μM). Moreover, treatment with compound 2m significantly inhibited liver cancer HepG2 cells proliferation and migration, which could also reduce the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) tube formation. In conclusion, compound 2m exhibited very good cancer cells proliferation inhibition by angiogenesis responses in vitro, and 2m might be a promising angiogenesis inhibitor for cancer treatment.

中文翻译：

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新型5-苯基异丁香衍生物的合成和细胞毒性研究及其抗迁移和抗血管生成评价。

从易于获得的起始原料中，以5-6个步骤合成了许多5-arylisatin衍生物。它们的结构通过1 H NMR和13 C NMR以及LC / MS确认。在体外通过MTT分析评估了这些新颖的靛红对人白血病K562细胞的细胞毒性。SAR研究表明，N-取代的苄基和C-5取代的苯基基团大大增强了它们的细胞毒性活性，而保持在母体环上C-3上完整的羰基官能度是必需的。尤其是，N-（对甲氧基苄基）-5-（对甲氧基苯基）Isatin（化合物2m）对K562细胞系表现出最高的抗肿瘤活性（IC50 = 0.03μM）。此外，化合物2m的治疗可显着抑制肝癌HepG2细胞的增殖和迁移，这也可以减少人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVEC）管的形成。总之，化合物2m在体外通过血管生成反应表现出非常良好的癌细胞增殖抑制作用，并且2m可能是有希望的用于癌症治疗的血管生成抑制剂。