Microwave-assisted synthesis of benzenesulfonohydrazide and benzenesulfonamide cyclic imide hybrid molecules and their evaluation for anticancer activity

4-Methyl benzenesulfonohydrazide ( 1a ) and 4-methoxy benzenesulfonohydrazide ( 1b ) on condensation with furan-2,5-dione, hexahydroisobenzofuran-1,3-dione, 3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydroisobenzofuran-1,3-dione and isochroman-1,3-dione under microwave irradiation condition gave corresponding condensation products 2a , b ; 3a , b ; 4a , b and 5a , b , respectively, in good yields. Microwave-assisted condensation of 4-amino- N -(thiazol-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide ( 6a ), 4-amino- N -(pyrimidin-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide ( 6b ) and 4-amino- N -(4-methyl pyrimidin-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide ( 6c ) with furan-2,5-dione, hexahydroisobenzofuran-1,3-dione, 3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydroisobenzofuran-1,3-dione and isochroman-1,3-dione gave corresponding condensation products 7a – c , 8a – c , 9a – c and 10a – c , respectively, in good yields. All these compounds, i.e., 2a , b ; 3a , b ; 4a , b ; 5a , b ; 7a – c ; 8a – c ; 9a – c and 10a – c , were screened for in vitro anticancer activity against five human cancer cell lines, i.e., breast (T47D), lung (NCl H-522), colon (HCT-15), ovary (PA-1) and liver (Hep G2). Compounds 7c and 9c exhibited good anticancer activity against ovary (PA-1) (IC 50 value 8.12 ± 1.83 µM) and liver (Hep G2) (IC 50 value 4 ± 1.9 µM) cancer cell lines, respectively.