Synthesis and In Vitro Anticancer Activity of New Acridone Derivatives: Computational DFT and Molecular Docking Studies.

Cancer continuing to present a serious global health threat, creating an urgent demand for new and effective anticancer candidates. In this study, several novel acridone derivatives were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HRMS and FT-IR, and their in vitro anticancer activity was evaluated combined with systematic theoretical calculations. Of these derivatives, 6a demonstrated antiproliferative activity against the HGC-27 gastric cancer cell line (IC50 = 4.86 µM) in comparison with the HeLa cervical cancer cell line and the HCT116 colon carcinoma cell line. Furthermore, morphological assessment under an inverted microscope revealed that it induced apoptosis like morphological changes. Density functional theory calculations were employed to gain insight into the electronic structure and intramolecular interactions of these compounds. Molecular docking studies revealed that compound 6a binds to the gastric cancer target protein (4OUM) through hydrogen bonds with Arg1106 and Asn1057, which contribute to its enhanced binding affinity (-5.59 kcal/mol). This binding energy is consistent with its potent antiproliferative activity, establishing a correlation between the computational prediction and the experimental observation. Taken together, these results indicate that compound 6a represents a promising lead for the development of novel anticancer agents.