The enaminone, (2E)-3-(dimethylamino)-1-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl) prop-2-en-1-one was prepared by refluxing 3,4,5-trimethoxy acetophenone with dimethylformamide dimethylacetal (DMF–DMA) without solvent for 12 h. The dihydropyrimidinone derivatives (1–9) were prepared by reacting enaminone, substituted benzaldehydes and urea in glacial acetic acid. The compounds (1–9) were synthesized in significant yield using one step multicomponent reaction. Structures of all the novel synthesized compounds were characterized and confirmed by various spectroscopic methods. The compounds were evaluated for their anti-cancer activity against HepG2 cancer cell line. Compound 9 displayed significant anti-cancer activity. During the apoptotic assay, it showed a significant increase in necrosis from 1.97% to 12.18% as compared to the control. Mechanism of anti-proliferation was performed by cell cycle distribution assay, which showed a decrease in G2+M from 12.90 to 8.13 as compared to control.
