Design, synthesis, and molecular docking studies of new [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline derivatives as potential A2B receptor antagonists.

Many shreds of evidence have recently correlated A2B receptor antagonism with anticancer activity. Hence, the search for an efficient A2B antagonist may help in the development of a new chemotherapeutic agent. In this article, 23 new derivatives of [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline were designed and synthesized and its structures were confirmed by different spectral data and elemental analyses. The results of cytotoxic evaluation of these compounds showed six promising active derivatives with IC50 values ranging from 1.9 to 6.4 μM on MDA-MB 231 cell line. Additionally, molecular docking for all synthesized compounds was performed to predict their binding affinity toward the homology model of A2B receptor as a proposed mode of their cytotoxic activity. Results of molecular docking were strongly correlated with those of the cytotoxic study. Finally, structure activity relationship analyses of the new compounds were explored.