Medicinal Chemistry Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-020-02535-2 MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY RESEARCH ORIGINAL RESEARCH Synthesis and biological screening of a novel enaminone-grafted trithiocarbonate: a potential anticancer and antimicrobial agent Yahia Nasser Mabkhot 1 ● Jamal M. A. Khaled 2 ● Mujeeb A. S. Sultan 3,4 ● Naiyf S. H. A. Alharbi 2 ● Hazem A. Ghabbour 5 ● Fahd A. Nasr 6 ● Abdulrhman Alsayari 7 ● Abdullatif Bin Muhsinah 7 ● Hamed Algarni 8,9 ● Yahya I. Asiri 10 Received: 18 November 2019 / Accepted: 20 March 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020 Abstract A need exists to develop safe and efficacious medications to treat major diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases. In response to this need, we synthesized a novel enaminone, which structurally belongs to the trithiocarbonate class engrafted by an enaminone group. The anticancer and antimicrobial activities were evaluated by utilizing three different types of human cancer (MDA-MB-231, LoVo, and HepG2) and a wide field of microbes (G + and G - bacteria, yeast, and molds). The tested compound 3 exhibited moderate growth suppression activity versus all examined human tumor cells, with values of IC 50 ranging from 35 to 45 μg/ml. Moreover, the antimicrobial effects of compound 3 were more profound against fungal pathogens than against bacterial pathogens (minimal inhibitory concentrations; fungi, 0.08–0.14 mg/ml; bacteria, 0.3–1.4 mg/ml). These findings lay the foundation for designing improved bioactive agents that could be utilized as anticancer and/or antimicrobial agents. Keywords Trithiocarbonate ● Anticancer ● Antibacterial ● Antifungal Introduction Cancer remains a prominent cause of mortality worldwide. According to the latest World Health Organization statis- tical report, cancer caused nearly 10 million deaths and 18 million new incidents globally (Torre et al. 2015). Among the many cancer types, breast, lung, and colorectal cancers represent around 38% of the total deaths. While current chemotherapeutic agents are somewhat effective, the asso- ciated serious side effects and lack of specificity hamper their optimal benefits (Hait 2010). While dramatic improvement has been seen with regard to managing diseases caused by microbial pathogens, mul- tidrug resistance has grown to an unprecedented extent, limiting the efficacy of existing drugs and posing a major health risk. Several reasons can be attributed to the microbes’ resistance to existing antimicrobial agents, including the adaptive mechanisms employed by microbes and the overprescription and misuse of these agents (Ventola 2015; Frieri et al. 2017). Hence, improving safety and effi- cacy profiles, along with protecting against microbial * Yahia Nasser Mabkhot ygaber@kku.edu.sa 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 960, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Abha, Saudi Arabia 3 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Aljanad University, Taiz, Republic of Yemen 4 Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Mansoura, Mansoura 35516, Egypt 6 Medicinal Aromatic and Poisonous Plants Center, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia 7 Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 960, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia 8 Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia 9 Research Centre for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia 10 Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 960, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia 1234567890();,: 1234567890();,: