Synthesis and evaluation of 2-anilinopyrimidines bearing 3-aminopropamides as potential epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors

Novel compounds 12a-i were synthesized and biologically evaluated. Several ones exhibited stronger inhibitory activity than gefitinib against EGFR L858R/T790M and antiproliferative effects on H1975 and HCC827 cells. The 3-aminopropamide in compounds like 12h could be converted to the active acrylamide in the presence of arginine. Importantly, 12h showed improved stability relative to compound 1 whose structure is same to 12h excepting an acrylamide moiety. Interestingly, 12i, a NO donating compound of 12h, showed more potent and selective inhibition than 12h on H1975 cells. Significantly, 12i produced high levels of NO in H1975 cells but not in non-tumorous 16HBE cells, and its inhibition was diminished by NO scavenger. Furthermore, 12i dose-dependently produced inhibitory effects on EGFR downstream signaling in H1975 cells.