Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Indanone Derivatives as Cholinesterase Inhibitors for Potential Use in Alzheimer's Disease.

Indanone derivatives containing meta/para-substituted aminopropoxy benzyl/benzylidene moieties were designed based on the structures of donepezil and ebselen analogs as the cholinesterase inhibitors. The designed compounds were synthesized and their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities were measured. Inhibitory potencies (IC50 values) for the synthesized compounds ranged from 0.12 to 11.92 µM and 0.04 to 24.36 µM against AChE and BChE, respectively. Compound 5 c showed the highest AChE inhibitory potency with IC50 value of 0.12 µM, whereas the highest BChE inhibition was achieved by structure 7 b (IC50 =0.04 µM). Structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis revealed that there is no significant difference between meta and para-substituted derivatives in AChE and BChE inhibition. However, the most potent AChE inhibitor 5 c belongs to meta-substituted compounds, while the most active BChE inhibitor is para-substituted derivative 7 b. The order of enzyme inhibition potency based on the substituted amine group is dimethyl amine>piperidine>morpholine. Compounds containing C=C linkage are more potent AChE inhibitors than the corresponding saturated structures. Molecular docking studies indicated that 5 c interacts with AChE in a very similar way to that observed experimentally for donepezil. The introduced indanone-aminopropoxy benzylidenes could be used in drug-discovery against Alzheimer's disease.

Hybridization-based design of novel anticholinesterase indanone-carbamates for Alzheimer's disease: Synthesis, biological evaluation, and docking studies.

Inspired by the structures of donepezil and rivastigmine, a novel series of indanone-carbamate hybrids was synthesized using the pharmacophore hybridization-based design strategy, and their biological activities toward acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase were evaluated. Among the synthesized compounds, 4d and 4b showed the highest AChE inhibitory activities with IC50 values in the micromolar range (compound 4d: IC50 = 3.04 µM; compound 4b: IC50 = 4.64 µM). Moreover, the results of the Aß1-40 aggregation assay revealed that compound 4b is a potent Aß1-40 aggregation inhibitor. The kinetics of AChE enzymatic activity in the presence of 4b was investigated, and the results were indicative of a reversible partial noncompetitive type of inhibition. A molecular docking study was conducted to determine the possible allosteric binding mode of 4b with the enzyme. The allosteric nature of AChE inhibition by these compounds provides the opportunity for the design of subtype-selective enzyme inhibitors. The presented indanone-carbamate scaffold can be structurally modified and optimized through medicinal chemistry-based approaches for designing novel multitargeted anti-Alzheimer agents.