Ultrasound assisted effective synthesis of benzopril based indole derivatives, docking studies: And there in vitro anti-proliferative effects on various cancer cell lines

•The new series of benzopril based indole derivatives have been synthesized.•All compounds are prepared by ultrasound technology.•The anti-cancer properties of the obtained compounds have been tested on breast cancer cell line.•The docking studies were performed to observe the extent of binding of the test compound showing quantitative anticancer activity.•The test compound (5 h) and roscovitine (standard reference) were docked in the CDK-2 active site. Benzopril based novel indole derivatives designed as potential anticancer agents were synthesized via Ultrasound assisted effective synthesis a newly developed one-pot, simple, straightforward, and inexpensive in PEG-400. The methodology involves a Cu-catalysed coupling-cyclization of a benzopril based alkyne with o-iodoanilides in the presence of Et3N in PEG-400. Some of the synthesized compounds were found promising anti-proliferative activities against cancer cell lines. The compounds showing excellent binding with the protein structure (PDB-2A4L). [Display omitted]