Abstract
A series of novel spirooxindole-O-naphthoquinone-tetrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine hybrids were designed, synthesized and evaluated as potent antitumor agents. These hybrids exhibited relatively high cytotoxic activity against cancer cell line HepG2 (IC(50) = 2.86⁻36.34 μM), while normal cell line LO2 was less sensitive to these hybrids (IC(50) = 36.37⁻248.39 μM). On the whole, among all the compounds tested, compound 4e, with a mean IC(50) value of 2.86 μM, was the most active. The novel hybrids may find their pharmaceutical applications after further investigations.