Design, synthesis and molecular modeling studies of new series of antitumor 1,2,4-triazines with potential c-Met kinase inhibitory activity

[Display omitted] •Twenty-one new 1,2,4-triazines were designed based on NCI 748494/1.•The derivatives displayed promising antitumor activities.•Double-drug design led to identifying 3d with IC50 = 2.71 µM against c-Met kinase.•3d showed binding mode with the essential amino acids in c-Met kinase domain. The receptor tyrosine kinase c-Met is an attractive target for therapeutic treatment of cancers nowadays. Herein we describe the design and synthesis of a novel series of 1,2,4-triazine derivatives based on our lead NCI 748494/1, possessing different N-linkers to aromatic and heterocyclic rings. In addition, a molecular hybrid series combining the 1,2,4-triazine scaffold to the well-known anticancer drug 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) was synthesized in order to explore its “double-drug” antitumor effect. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antitumor activity against three c-Met addicted cancer cell lines (A549, HT-29 and MKN-45). Most compounds showed moderate to excellent antitumor activity. Compound 3d showed potent inhibitory activity more than reference Foretinib, BMS-777607 and NCI 748494/1 with IC50 values in the range 0.01–0.31 µM against the cancer cell lines. The calculated IC50 of 3d against c-Met kinase was found to be 2.71 µM, which is more potent than NCI 748494/1 (IC50 = 31.70 µM). Docking studies were performed to identify the binding mode of 3d with c-Met kinase domain in comparison to moderate and weak derivatives. The present study clearly demonstrates that 1,2,4-triazine ring exhibits promising antitumor activity and the double-drug optimization strategy led to identifying 3d as a potent c-Met kinase inhibitor suitable for further development.