Synthesis of coumarin heterocyclic derivatives with antioxidant activity and in vitro cytotoxic activity against tumour cells.

The aim of the present work was to synthesise coumarinyl heterocycles and to elucidate the potential role of these compounds as antioxidants and cytotoxic agents against Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumour cells (DLA) and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells (EAC). The synthesis of coumarin derivatives containing pyrazole, pyrazolone, thiazolidin-4-one, 5-carboxymethyl-4-thiazolidinone and 3-acetyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole ring is reported. 4-Methylcoumarinyl-7-oxyacetic acid hydrazide (1) reacted with arylazopropanes or hydrazono-3-oxobutyrate derivatives to form pyrazole (3a-c) and pyrazolone derivatives (5a-c). Heterocyclisation of Schiff's bases of 1 with thioglycolic acid, thiomalic acid or acetic anhydride afforded novel heterocyclic derivatives 4-thiazolidinones (7a-c), 5-carboxymethyl-4-thiazolidinones (8a-c) and oxadiazoles (9a-c), respectively. Some of the compounds showed promising antioxidant activity in vitro and cytotoxic activity against DLA cells and EAC cells.