Russian Journal of General Chemistry. Vol. 92, No. 11, Pages 2544-2552, 2022

Yuanwei Liang^a, Chengpeng Li^a, Wenhua Qiu^a, Puwang Li^b, Ziming Yang^b, Haisheng Lin^{c, d}^,*, and Yuntao Zhao^{c, d}^,**

^aCollege of Chemistry and Environment, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088 China

^bAgricultural Product Processing Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang, 524001 China

^cCollege of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088 China

^dGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, Zhanjiang, 524088 China

Abstract— A series of novel intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) based 2-benzylidene-1-tetralones that contain nitrogen mustard for drug release monitoring and cervical cancer therapy were developed. Their emission wavelength and Stokes shift were up to 550 nm and 142 nm, respectively. These compounds exerted excellent anticancer activity against cervical cancer cells, among which 2-{4-[bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]benzylidene}-7-fluoro-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one exerted the strongest anti-proliferation activity that inhibited HeLa cell cycle in G₂/M phase and induced cell apoptosis, as well as activating pro-apoptotic proteins. Furthermore, the release of 2-{4-[bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]benzylidene}-7-fluoro-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one probe was monitored to locate in lysosomes and nuclei.

Nitrogen Mustard Based 2-Benzylidene-1-tetralone as ICT-Based Fluorescent Probe for Drug Release Monitoring and Cervical Cancer Therapy