Characterization of lipophilicity and antiproliferative activity of E-2-arylmethylene-1-tetralones and their heteroanalogues

A molecular library based on E-2-arylmethylene-1-tetralone has been designed and synthesized. A reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method has been developed and applied to separate them and to characterize their lipophilicity. The chromatographic method applied here was suitable to separate the structural (ortho and para) isomers of compounds and was sensitive enough to differentiate their lipophilicities. The measured (k′) and computer calculated (CLOGP) lipophilicity values has been compared. Good linear correlation has been found in the case of these structurally related molecules. In vitro biological assay has been performed with Methylene blue dying to investigate the antiproliferative potency of the compounds synthesized in this work. The measured (k′) and calculated (CLOGP) lipophilicities of the compounds were compared with the antiproliferative activities and an optimum value of lipophilicity has been found for these compounds.