A series of new coumarin-containing compounds 3a-l and 4a-c was designed and synthesized based on the chalcone-type 4-amino-5-cinnamoylthiazole scaffold 2, and screened for their in vitro anticancer and antioxidant activities. Representatively, the 2-thiomorpholinothiazole derivative 3k with IC₅₀ values of 7.5–16.9 μg/ml demonstrated good cytotoxic effects against tested cell lines MCF-7, HepG2 and SW480. Further investigation by flow cytometric analysis confirmed that this compound induces apoptotic cell death in MCF-7 cells and cause G1-phase arrest in the cell cycle. Moreover, most of compounds had intrinsic potential for radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing power as investigated by DPPH and FRAP assays.