Synthesis and characterization of Mannich bases of lawsone and their anticancer activity

Abstract

Natural and synthetic naphthoquinones are known for a large number of biological activities. Lawsone (2-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone) is a simplest naturally occurring compound obtained from dried henna (Lawsonia inermis) leaves. In literature, some lawsone derivatives have been reported to exhibit anticancer activity. Hence, a clean and facile one-pot protocol was developed for the synthesis of new aminonaphthoquinones derived from lawsone by three-component Mannich reaction, at room temperature for potential anti-cancer application. Herein we present a small library of Mannich bases with different amines and aromatic aldehydes with moderate to high yield. Synthesized compounds were characterized using various spectroscopic techniques. The anticancer activity (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay) along with nuclear morphology assessment (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole or DAPI staining), apoptosis assessment (acridine orange/ ethidium bromide staining), hemolysis and DNA ladder assay evaluated on human liver carcinoma cell line HepG2 are presented.