Synthesis and biological evaluation of allenic quinazolines using palladium-catalyzed hydride-transfer reaction

Allenic quinazolines 13a–h were designed as mimics of Tarceva, which is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and synthesized from the corresponding 4-(iodoanilino)quinazolines or 4-(iodophenoxy)quinazolines with N,N-dicyclohexylprop-2-ynylamine by the Sonogashira coupling followed by palladium-catalyzed hydride-transfer reaction. Cell growth inhibition of 13a–h toward A431, Kato III, SKBR3, and HepG2 was examined. Among the compounds synthesized, 13a showed a similar cell growth inhibition to Tarceva. Moreover, 13d and 13h exhibited a specific growth inhibition toward Kato III cells (IC50 = 12 and 4.7 μM, respectively), although a significant inhibition toward other three cell lines was not observed at a 100 μM concentration of compounds.