This interdisciplinary chemistry-biology study was focused on two aspects: (1) the synthesis of hybrid arylidene heterocyclic compounds containing a variety of functional groups including boronic acids; and, (2) the analysis of their potential anticancer activity on breast cancer cells. These hybrid organic compounds were designed based on the literature reports about the independent pharmacological activity of rhodanine and related heterocycles, and boronic acids.

The synthesis of the arylidene heterocyclic compounds containing 2-sulfanylidene-1, 3-thiazolidin-4-one (rhodanine) and related compounds with varying functional groups, was achieved via the Knoevenagel condensation reaction. The viability of the AU565 breast cancer cells was determined after the cells were treated with eleven test compounds by using the CellTiter-Blue® cell viability assay.

The synthesized arylidene heterocycles used in this study have shown both a decrease and an increase in cell viability. The results indicate that the ortho-substituted groups with rhodanine appeared to be more effective in producing anticancer activity.