Novel Amides Derived from Fenofibrate and Sulfa Drugs: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Studies

Sulfa drugs were chemical compounds used to treat and prevent bacterial infections in humans. This study includes designing and producing a new series of amide derivatives from various sulfa drugs with fenofibrate assessed as antioxidants and anticancer agents in vitro. Their structures were definitively confirmed by the study of spectroscopic data, including Infrared spectroscopy (IR), 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR, and elemental analysis. All products were screened in vitro against cell lines MDA-MB-231. The cytotoxicity assay results revealed that derivatives 5d-5f exhibited good inhibition for MDA-MB-231 with IC50 values 117.15, 79.09, and 98.72 µg/mL, respectively. A molecular docking study of the synthetic compounds confirmed the cytotoxicity test results. In addition, the DPPH investigation revealed good antioxidant activity for the derivatives 5a, 5d, and 5e with inhibition percentages of 97.91, 94.53, and 95.26%, respectively, compared to ascorbic acid.