Novel isatinspirooxazine derivatives were designed and synthesized as potential anti-proliferative agents. The new compounds were obtained from aldol condensation reactions between isatin and 3-(hydroxyimino)butan-2-one in the presence of an organic base in order to generate an aldol adduct, followed by cyclization in trifluoroacetic acid, providing the desired isatinspirooxazines in 30 to 80% yield. All the synthesized compounds, including the starting material and the synthetic intermediates, were tested for in vitro anti-proliferative activity against cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB231 (breast cancer) and A549 (lung cancer), highlighting the compound 4-methyl,5'-methyl-spiro[(5-aza-4-eno-3-one-cyclohexane)-1,3'-(1H-indol-one)] with an IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) = 0.34 µM, more potent than the reference drug, doxorubicin (IC50 = 1.88 µM), in breast cancer line MDA-MB231.
