Dapson in Heterocyclic Chemistry, Part IV: Synthesis of Some Novel Diphenylsulfones Containing Acetamide, Pyrrolidine, Piperazine, and Thiomorpholine Moieties as Antimicrobial and Antitumor Agents

Interaction of dapson [bis(4-aminophenyl)sulfone] 1 with [bis-(methylsulfonyl) methylidine]malononitrile 2 yielded the corresponding dicyano derivative 3, which was reacted with acetic anhydride, succinic anhydride, 4-chlorobenzaldehyde, phenyl isothiocyanate to give the corresponding acetamide 4, succinamic acid 5, pyrrolidine 6, Shiff base 7 and thiourea 8, respectively. Treatment of 3 with chloroacetyl chloride afforded the aminoacetyl chloride derivative 9. Further, the interaction of compound 9 with thioglycolic acid, malononitrile, ethyl glycinate hydrochloride, and/or potassium thiocyanate furnished compounds 10-15, respectively. The structural characterization of the prepared compounds was based on microanalytical and spectroscopic analyses. Some of the prepared compounds were tested for their antimicrobial and antitumor activities. Compounds 9 and 12 showed promising antitumor activity compared with Doxorubicin as positive control.