A series of new phenanthrene-9-benzimidazole conjugates has been synthesized by condensing phenanthrene aldehydes with various substituted o-phenylenediamines. The title compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic potential against various human cancer cell lines like breast (BT-549), prostate (PC-3 and DU145), triple negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-453), and human colon cancer (HCT-116 and HCT-15) cells. Among the tested compounds, 10o displayed significant in vitro cytotoxic activity against PC-3 prostate cancer cells with an IC₅₀ value of 6.32 ± 0.09 μM. Further, the cell cycle analysis indicated that it blocks G2/M phase of the cell cycle in a dose dependent manner. In order to determine the effect of the compound 10o on cell viability; phase contrast microscopy, AO/EB staining, DAPI staining, and DCFDA staining studies were performed. In these studies, apoptotic features were clearly observed indicating that the compound inhibited cell proliferation by apoptosis. JC-1 staining and annexin binding assays indicated the extent of apoptosis in PC-3 cells. Further, relative viscosity measurements and molecular docking studies indicated that these compounds bind to DNA by intercalation.

通过将菲醛与各种取代的邻苯二胺缩合，合成了一系列新的菲-9-苯并咪唑共轭物。评价了标题化合物对各种人类癌细胞系（如乳腺癌（BT-549），前列腺癌（PC-3和DU145），三阴性乳腺癌（MDA-MB-453）和人类结肠癌）的体外细胞毒性潜力（HCT-116和HCT-15）细胞。在被测试的化合物中，10o以IC _50表现出对PC-3前列腺癌细胞的显着体外细胞毒活性。值为6.32±0.09μM。此外，细胞周期分析表明它以剂量依赖性方式阻断细胞周期的G2 / M期。为了确定化合物10o对细胞活力的影响；进行了相差显微镜，AO / EB染色，DAPI染色和DCFDA染色研究。在这些研究中，清楚地观察到凋亡特征，表明该化合物通过凋亡抑制细胞增殖。JC-1染色和膜联蛋白结合试验表明PC-3细胞凋亡的程度。此外，相对粘度测量和分子对接研究表明这些化合物通过嵌入与DNA结合。