N-Rich, Polyphenolic Porous Organic Polymer and Its In Vitro Anticancer Activity on Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

N-rich organic materials bearing polyphenolic moieties in their building networks and nanoscale porosities are very demanding in the context of designing efficient biomaterials or drug carriers for the cancer treatment. Here, we report the synthesis of a new triazine-based secondary-amine- and imine-linked polyphenolic porous organic polymer material TrzTFPPOP and explored its potential for in vitro anticancer activity on the human colorectal carcinoma (HCT 116) cell line. This functionalized (-OH, -NH-, -C=N-) organic material displayed an exceptionally high BET surface area of 2140 m2 g−1 along with hierarchical porosity (micropores and mesopores), and it induced apoptotic changes leading to high efficiency in colon cancer cell destruction via p53-regulated DNA damage pathway. The IC30, IC50, and IC70 values obtained from the MTT assay are 1.24, 3.25, and 5.25 μg/mL, respectively.

Keywords

• porous polymer
• polyphenolic amine linked
• high surface area
• DNA damage
• anticancer activity