Anticancer activity of new benzofuroxan–imidazolone hybrids

Novel hybrid compounds containing both benzofuroxan and 1H-imidazol-2(3H)-one moieties were synthesized by an S_NAr reaction between 7-chloro-4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan and imidazol-2-ones, with the only C⁴ regioisomer having been formed. Cytotoxic effects of parent and obtained compounds were estimated on human cancer and normal cells, while two of imidazolones showed higher cytotoxicity in relation to the M-HeLa cancer line compared to the hybrid products. In relation to the normal liver cell line Chang, the tested compounds were found to be non-toxic and can be promising for further development of anticancer agents.