Synthesis and anti-cancer and anti-tubercular activities evaluation of some fluoro- substituted chalcones

A series of new fluoro-substituted chalcone derivatives were synthesized.Their anti-proliferative activities were evaluated against five cancer cells lines using the MTT method. Most of the compounds showed moderate to high activity with IC50 values in the range of 0.029–0.729 µM. Among synthesized compounds, 56 and 60 showed the most potent anti-cancer activities against cancer cells and 56 was determined as the most encouraging compound. On the other hand, all synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antitubercular efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and antimicrobial activity against five common pathogenic bacterial and three common fungal strains. Compounds 50, 52 and 54 displayed significant antitubercular activity with IC50 values ≤16,760. Compounds 50, 52, 55-56 and 61 exhibited moderate activity against the bacteria, and the antifungal activities of compounds 50, 53, 57, 58 and 60 were comparable against to reference drugs that are ampicillin and fluconazole.