Synthesis and in vitro cytotoxicity of haloderivatives of noscapine Original Research Article

Three haloderivatives of noscapine 2–4 were synthesized chemoselectively and their in vitro cytotoxicity was assessed by MTT assay on U-87 human glioblastoma cell lines. At 50 μM concentration after 72 h, 9-chloronoscapine 2, 9-bromonoscapine 3 (EM011), and 9-iodonoscapine 4 killed 87.8%, 51.2%, and 56.8% cells, respectively, however noscapine kills only 40% of the cells; revealing 9-chloronoscapine as a potential cytotoxic agent than noscapine and 9-bromonoscapine (EM011). At low concentration (1 μM) 9-bromonoscapine (46.7%) and 9-chloronoscapine (45.7%) did not show any significant difference.