Design, synthesis, cytotoxic evaluation, and QSAR study of some 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline derivatives

In the pathway of anticancer drug development, we designed and synthesized some 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline derivatives (which act as DNA intercalators) by structural modification. The structure of the 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline derivatives was confirmed by IR, NMR, Mass and elemental analysis. The compounds (IDQ-5, IDQ-10, IDQ-11, IDQ-13, and IDQ-14) exhibited significant in vitro activity against a human leukemia (HL-60) cell line. The QSAR derived for modeling the cytotoxic activity of 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline derivatives suggests that candidate structures for increased cytotoxic potency should incorporate cyclic substituents or substituents with primary carbon atoms.