N-Cyclohexylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives as multi-target-directed ligands for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. While drugs that target several pathways underlying AD have been proposed, effective treatments remain to be discovered. BACE1, an enzyme associated with AD progression, is a promising target for developing anti-Alzheimer drugs. To find novel multifunctional anti-Alzheimer agents, we designed and synthesized a series of new substituted benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl-N-cyclohexylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-amine. The in vitro screening results revealed that most of the compounds exhibited moderate to potent BACE1 and BuChE inhibitory and antioxidant activities. Compounds 7f and 7g, bearing dichloro (2,3-Cl2 and 3,4-Cl2) moieties on the benzyl pendant were selected as the most active compounds in our BACE1 inhibitory assay with respective IC50 values of about 12 and 8.9 µM. In addition, compounds 7g and 7h (4-bromo derivative) showed the highest BuChE inhibitory activity with IC50 of 3.2 and 2.5 µM, respectively. Compound 7g also possessed antioxidant activity with an IC50 value of 10.2 µM and metal chelation potential. Moreover, docking studies were performed to investigate the possible mechanism of inhibition. Taken together, we demonstrate that N-cyclohexylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine containing triazole motif derivatives deserve further investigation for anti-Alzheimer drug development.

Design, Synthesis, In vitro Cytotoxic Activity Evaluation, and Study of Apoptosis Inducing Effect of New Styrylimidazo[1,2-a]Pyridines as Potent Anti-Breast Cancer Agents.

BACKGROUND: This paper reports synthesis, cytotoxic activity, and apoptosis inducing effect of a novel series of styrylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives. OBJECTIVE: In this study, anti-cancer activity of novel styrylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines was evaluated. METHODS: Styrylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives 4a-o were synthesized through a one-pot three-component reaction of 2-aminopyridines, cinnamaldehydes, and isocyanides in high yield. All synthesized compounds 4a-o were evaluated against breast cancer cell lines including MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and T-47D using MTT assay. Apoptosis was evaluated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining, cell cycle analysis, and TUNEL assay as the mechanism of cell death. RESULTS: Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited more potent cytotoxicity than standard drug, etoposide. Induction of apoptosis by the most cytotoxic compounds 4f, 4g, 4j, 4n, and 4m was confirmed through mentioned methods. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, these results confirmed the potency of styrylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines for further drug discovery developments in the field of anti-cancer agents.