Microwave Assisted Synthesis of Anticancer Active Carbazoles

Microwave assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) is a new and quickly growing technique in synthetic organic chemistry. This synthetic technique is based on the empirical observation that some organic reactions proceeds much faster and with higher yield under microwave irradiation compared to conventional heating. Development of new methods for the synthesis of heterocyclo-fused carbazoles is currently attracting the organic chemist due to the discovery of many carbazole alkaloids with varied biological activities. It has been revealed from the literature that carbazole possess various biological activities including anticancer activity especially against breast cancer. The present study deals with the synthesis of some substituted carbazoles by greener method using dimedone and substituted aromatic amines. This greener method yields 85-90 % but conventional method yields maximum of 70 %. The products are identified and isolated. The compounds are characterized using IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and Mass spectra. The compounds found to possess good anti- cancer activity.