BACKGROUND Pyrazole and its derivatives are known to exhibit significant biological and pharmacological activities such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, analgesic, antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-glycemic, antiamoebic, and antidepressive. Considering the immense biological properties, pyrazole is one of the most widely studied nitrogen- containing heterocyclic nuclei. Fused pyrazole derivatives are composed of the pyrazole nucleus attached to other heterocyclic moieties. OBJECTIVE The objective of this article is the synthesis of some new pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine and pyrazolo[5,1-c]1,2,4-triazine derivatives with potential anticancer and antimicrobial activities. METHODS The in vitro growth inhibitory rates (%) and inhibitory growth activity (as measured by IC50) of the newly synthesized compounds were determined against the MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cell line in comparison with the well-known anticancer drug doxorubicin as the standard, using the MTT viability assay. The data generated were used to plot a dose-response curve from which the concentration (μM) of tested compounds required to kill 50% of the cell population (IC50) was determined. Cytotoxic activity was expressed as the mean IC50 of three independent experiments. The difference between inhibitory activities of all compounds with different concentrations was statistically significant p < 0.001. All compounds were structurally characterized by different spectroscopic techniques EI-MS, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR, and evaluated for their anticancer and antimicrobial activities (antibacterial and antifungal). RESULTS Several pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine derivatives were synthesized from the reaction of 2-(4- (5-amino-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenyl)-1H-indene-1,3(2H)-dione with the appropriate active methylene compounds in boiling ethanol. Also, pyrazolo[5,1-c]triazines were obtained through the reaction of 2-(4-(5-(chlorodiazenyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenyl)-1H-indene-1,3(2H)-dione with various active methylene compounds in ethanol containing sodium acetate at 0-5 oC. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were elucidated on the basis of elemental analysis, spectral data, and alternative synthetic routes whenever possible. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their antitumor activity against a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and a human colon cancer cell line (HCT-116). The results revealed that the tested compounds showed high variation in the inhibitory growth rates and activities against the tested tumor cell lines. All newly synthesized compounds screen towards microorganisms e.g. Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria, and Fungi. CONCLUSIONS 2-(4-(5-Amino-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenyl)isoindoline-1,3-dione proved to be a useful precursor for the synthesis of various pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine and pyrazolo[5,1-c]-1,2,4- triazines. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectral data and elemental analyses. The newly synthesized compounds were tested in vitro against the MCF-7, HCT-116 human cancer cell line and compared with doxorubicin as the standard, using the MTT viability assay. Most of the tested compounds were found to have moderate to high anticancer activity.