BENZODIFURAN DERIVATIVES AS POTENTIAL ANTIPROLIFERATIVE AGENTS: POSSIBLE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE BIOACTIVITY AND THEIR AGGREGATION PROPERTIES

Notwithstanding the wide variety of applications of benzodifuran derivatives, especially in the field of innovative organic materials with particular properties, the biological activity of this class of compounds has been scarcely investigated. Aiming at further exploring the properties and bioactivity of benzodifurans, we here synthesized three compounds belonging to this class, and characterized them using spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques, also using SEM and thermogravimetric analysis. The obtained compounds showed interesting antiproliferative activity on different human cancer cells, while no relevant cytotoxic effect was observed on healthy cells used as control. In order to explore the possible mechanism of action of the benzodifuran molecules, we investigated their ability to bind DNA ‒ studying their interaction with various DNA model systems ‒ and evaluated their aggregation properties and ability to bind biologically relevant metal ions.