Anticancer activity of new benzofuroxan–imidazolone hybrids

Novel hybrid compounds containing both benzofuroxan and 1H-imidazol-2(3H)-one moieties were synthesized by an SNAr 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.