Preparation, characterisation and biological evaluation of new N-phenyl amidobenzenesulfonates and N-phenyl ureidobenzenesulfonates inducing DNA double-strand breaks. Part 3. Modulation of ring A

N-Phenyl ureidobenzenesulfonates (PUB-SOs) are a new class of anticancer agents blocking the cell cycle progression in S-phase, inducing replicative stress and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In this study, we evaluate the effect of modifying the nature and the position of different substituents on ring A of PUB-SOs on the antiproliferative activity, pharmacological activity as well as on calculated physicochemical, pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness properties. Modification of the urea group by an amide group led to new PUB-SO analogs designated as N-phenyl amidobenzenesulfonates (PAB-SOs). The 2-chloroethyl moiety on ring A was also substituted by different alkyl, cycloalkyl and chloroalkyl groups. The new PAB-SOs and PUB-SOs blocking the cell cycle progression in S-phase exhibit antiproliferative activity in the submicromolar to low micromolar range (0.14–27 μM) on four human cancer cell lines, namely HT-1080, HT-29, M21 and MCF7. Moreover, selected PUB-SO and PAB-SO derivatives induced the phosphorylation of H2AX in M21 cells and do not exhibit or only slightly alkylating activity as confirmed by the 4-(4-nitrobenzyl)pyridine (NBP) assay. Finally, our results show that structure modifications weakly affect the calculated physicochemical, pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness properties of PAB-SOs and PUB-SOs. Therefore, PAB-SOs and PUB-SOs are promising anticancer agents inducing replicative stress and DNA damage via a mechanism of action unrelated to DNA alkylation