The biological application of selenium containing organic compounds is a growing field of study, being reported a number of selenocompounds with antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, among other biological activities.1,2 In this work the syntheses of selenocompounds MC03-06 were achieved using classical methodologies for the derivatization of the cyanohydrin moiety with isolated yields ranging from 26 to 68% (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Synthetic route for cyanohydrin derivates MC03-06

MC03-06 were then tested as cytotoxic agents, via neutral red uptake and crystal violet assays, utilizing BALB/3T3 fibroblasts cell line, with incubation times of 24, 48 and 72 h and concentration varying from 10 to 50 μg mL-1 in four independent studies. Results demonstrated that compounds were not cytotoxic in the tested parameters. Besides that, it was observed an increase in cell proliferation when treated with MC03 and MC04, compared with the control, as exemplified with MC03 in Figure 2.

Figure 2 – Relative cell viability after 72 h of incubation when treated with 10, 20, 30 and 50 μg/mL of MC03 (a) and cell proliferation in the same parameters (b).

In summary, MC03-06 demonstrated a lack of cytotoxicity in the developed assays, presenting potential for biological application including antitumoral assays.

1. Jain, V. K.; Priyadarsini, K. I. Organoselenium Compounds in Biology and Medicine; Royal Society of Chemistry, 2018.
2. Kuršvietienė, L.; Mongirdienė, A.; Bernatonienė, J.; Šulinskienė, J.; Stanevičienė, I. Antioxidants 2020, 9, 80–91.