The College of Education for Pure Sciences, Department of Chemistry, reviewed a master's thesis on "Preparation and Characterization of Some Thiazolidine Derivatives and Studying Their Activity as Anti-Cancer and Anti-Amylase Agents." The thesis, presented by researcher Jamal Rashid, aimed to prepare novel thiazolidine amide derivatives derived from the drug phenazone. It also investigated their biological activity as inhibitors of amylase enzymes and cancer cells, as well as their role in programmed cell death, cell cycle arrest, and autophagy.

The study involved preparing the thiazolidine ring by reacting aldehydes with the amino acid cysteine. Subsequently, the thiazolidine amide derivatives were prepared by reacting thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid with 4-aminophenazone. The compounds were characterized using spectroscopic techniques. The biological activity of all the prepared compounds against α-amylase enzyme and PC3 and A549 cancer cells was studied and demonstrated, showing good results compared to existing drugs. The prototoxicity of the prepared compounds was also investigated, revealing that some compounds were non-toxic and did not affect normal, healthy cells.

Furthermore, the prepared compounds were applied at half the inhibitory concentration (MIC) to flow cytometry to induce apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and autophagy inhibition in PC3 prostate cancer cells and A549 lung cancer cells. Measurements showed that the compounds exhibited high activity in inducing both early and late apoptosis and in various stages of the cell cycle, particularly during DNA replication (S) and mitosis

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