It takes two to tango: synthesis of cytotoxic quinones containing two redox active centers with potential antitumor activity.

We report the synthesis of 47 new quinone-based derivatives via click chemistry and their subsequent evaluation against cancer cell lines and the control L929 murine fibroblast cell line. These compounds combine two redox centers, such as an ortho-quinone/para-quinone or quinones/selenium with the 1,2,3-triazole nucleus. Several of these compounds present IC50 values below 0.5 μM in cancer cell lines with significantly lower cytotoxicity in the control cell line L929 and good selectivity index. Hence, our study confirms the use of a complete and very diverse range of quinone compounds with potential application against certain cancer cell lines.