Synthesis of selenophene‐containing flavonols and 2‐styrylchromones: Evaluation of their activities compared with selenophene‐containing chalcones as potential anticancer agents

Previously, we documented the synthesis and assessed the biological effects of chalcones containing selenium against HT‐29 human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells, demonstrating their significant potential. As research on selenium‐containing flavonoids remains limited, this article outlines our design and synthesis of three selenium‐based flavonols and three 2‐styrylchromones. We conducted evaluations of these compounds to determine their impact on human lung cancer cells (A549, H1975, CL1‐0, and CL1‐5) and their influence on normal lung fibroblast MRC5 cells. Additionally, we included selenium‐based chalcones in our testing for comparative purposes. Our findings highlight that the simplest compound, designated as compound 1, exhibited the most promising performance among the tested molecules. Selenophene‐containing chalcones, flavonols, and 2‐styrylchromones were evaluated against human lung cancer cells. Compound 1, the simplest structure, was demonstrated to be the most potent agent and showed selective anticancer activity against lung cancer cells.