Versatile acenaphtho[1,2-b]pyrrol-carbonitriles as a new family of heterocycles: diverse SNArH reactions, cytotoxicity and spectral behavior

The diverse reactivity of highly electron-deficient 8-oxo-8H-acenaphtho[1,2-b]pyrrol-9-carbonitrile is attractive for the preparation of derivatives bearing different substituents via SNArH reaction with N, O, S nucleophiles. These derivatives were versatile, possessing potential antitumor activities and displaying tunable fluorescence spectral behavior.