Multicomponent synthesis and preliminary anti-inflammatory activity of lipophilic diphenylamines.

Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are some of the most prescribed medications for pain but the incidence of adverse effects -especially during chronic treatment- points out the requirement of new analgesics. In this study, we showed an efficient two-steps synthesis of diphenylamine-containing dipeptides consisting of a multicomponent process followed by a Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling reaction. We prepared 16 diphenylamine derivatives and evaluated their in vivo anti-inflammatory activity through an ear edema model using 12-O-tetradecanoylpholbol-13-acetate. Furthermore, the toxicity of the more potent compounds in the Artemia salina model and their cell viability using murine RAW 264.7 cells is reported. The fluorinated compound 10k becomes a reliable candidate since it reduced the TPA-induced edema to 92%, lacked cytotoxicity against murine macrophages, and had minimal toxicity in Artemia salina.

Metabolically stable diphenylamine derivatives suppress androgen receptor and BET protein in prostate cancer.

Androgen receptor (AR) is a crucial driver of prostate cancer (PC). AR-relevant resistance remains a major challenge in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) family are critical AR coregulators. Here, we developed several diphenylamine derivatives and identified compound 7d that disrupted the functions of AR and BET family in prostate cancer and exhibited favorable metabolic stability in vitro and high drug exposure in vivo. We showed 7d not only bound to AR, suppressed transactivation of wild-type AR (wt-AR) and the mutant that mediates Enzalutamide resistance, but also reduced c-Myc protein expression through BET inhibition. In addition, 7d inhibited the proliferation of AR-positive PC cells with favorable selectivity and suppressed AR-V7-expressing VCaP and 22Rv1 xenografts growth in vivo. Collectively, these results indicate the potential of lead compound 7d as an orally available AR and BET inhibitor to treat CRPC and overcome antiandrogen resistance.

Proliferation inhibition of novel diphenylamine derivatives.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are the most widely used drugs in the world but some NSAIDs such as diclofenac and tolfenamic acid display levels of cytotoxicity, an effect which has been attributed to the presence of diphenylamine contained in their structures. A novel series of diphenylamine derivatives were synthetised and evaluated for their cytotoxic activities and proliferation inhibition. The most active compounds in the cytotoxicity tests were derivative 6g with an IC50 value of 2.5 ±â€¯1.1 × 10-6 M and derivative 6f with an IC50 value of 6.0 ±â€¯3.0 × 10-6 M (L1210 cell line) after 48 h incubation. The results demonstrate that leukemic L1210 cells were much more sensitive to compounds 6f and 6g than the HEK293T cells (IC50 = 35 × 10-6 M for 6f and IC50 > 50 × 10-6 M for 6g) and NIH-3T3 (IC50 > 50 × 10-6 M for both derivatives). The IC50 values show that these substances may selectively kill leukemic cells over non-cancer cells. Cell cycle analysis revealed that a primary trend of the diphenylamine derivatives was to arrest the cells in the G1-phase of the cell cycle within the first 24 h. UV-visible, fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism were used in order to study the binding mode of the novel compounds with DNA. The binding constants determined by UV-visible spectroscopy were found to be in the range of 2.1-8.7 × 104 M-1. We suggest that the observed trend for binding constant K is likely to be a result of different binding thermodynamics accompanying the formation of the complexes.

Cu-Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative N-N Coupling of Carbazoles and Diarylamines Including Selective Cross-Coupling.

A Cu-catalyzed method has been identified for aerobic oxidative dimerization of carbazoles and diarylamines to the corresponding N-N coupled bicarbazoles and tetraarylhydrazines. The reactions proceed under mild conditions (1 atm O2, 60-80 °C) with a catalyst composed of CuBr·dimethylsulfide and N, N-dimethylaminopyridine. Reactions between carbazole and diarylamines show unusually selective cross-coupling, even with a 1:1 ratio of the two substrates. This behavior was found to arise from reversible formation of the tetraarylhydrazine. Formation of this species is kinetically favored, but cleavage of the N-N bond under the reaction conditions leads to selective formation of the thermodynamically favored cross-coupling product.

Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationship of novel diphenylamine derivatives.

Diphenylamine derivatives have been reported with good fungicidal, insecticidal, acaricidal, rodenticidal and/or herbicidal activities. To find new lead compound of this kind, a series of novel diphenylamine derivatives were designed and synthesized by the approach of Intermediate Derivatization Methods. All compounds were identified by (1)H NMR and elemental analysis. Bioassays demonstrated that some compounds substituted at 2,4,6-positions or 2,4,5-positions of phenyl ring B exhibited excellent fungicidal activities. The optimal compounds P30 and P33 showed 80% and 85% control respectively against cucumber downy mildew at 12.5mgL(-1), both 100% control against rice blast at 0.3mgL(-1) and both 100% control against cucumber gray mold at 0.9mgL(-1). The relationship between structure and fungicidal activities was discussed as well.

Mild conditions for deuteration of primary and secondary arylamines for the synthesis of deuterated optoelectronic organic molecules.

Deuterated arylamines demonstrate great potential for use in optoelectronic devices, but their widespread utility requires a method for large-scale synthesis. The incorporation of these deuterated materials into optoelectronic devices also provides the opportunity for studies of the functioning device using neutron reflectometry based on the difference in the scattering length density between protonated and deuterated compounds. Here we report mild deuteration conditions utilising standard laboratory glassware for the deuteration of: diphenylamine, N-phenylnaphthylamine, N-phenyl-o-phenylenediamine and 1-naphthylamine (via H/D exchange in D2O at 80 °C, catalysed by Pt/C and Pd/C). These conditions were not successful in the deuteration of triphenylamine or N,N-dimethylaniline, suggesting that these mild conditions are not suitable for the deuteration of tertiary arylamines, but are likely to be applicable for the deuteration of other primary and secondary arylamines. The deuterated arylamines can then be used for synthesis of larger organic molecules or polymers with optoelectronic applications.

Design, synthesis and 3D-QSAR studies of new diphenylamine containing 1,2,4-triazoles as potential antitubercular agents.

A new series of new diphenylamine containing 1,2,4-triazoles were synthesized from 4-arylideneamino-5-[2-(2,6-dichlorophenylamino) benzyl]-2H-1,2,4-triazole-3(4H)-thiones 3a-f. The synthesized compounds were screened for in-vitro antimycobacterial and antibacterial activities. The synthesized compounds 4a, 4e and 4d have shown potential activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain with MIC of 0.2, 1.6 and 3.125 µM respectively. To investigate the SAR of diphenylamine containing 1,2,4-triazole derivatives in more details, CoMFA (q(2)-0.432, r(2)-0.902) and CoMSIA (q(2)-0.511, r(2)-0.953) models on M. tuberculosis H37Rv were established. The generated 3D-QSAR models are externally validated and have shown significant statistical results, and these models can be used for further rational design of novel diphenylamine containing 1,2,4-triazoles as potent antitubercular agents.

Synthesis, photophysical and charge-transporting properties of a novel asymmetric indolo [3,2-b]carbazole derivative containing benzothiazole and diphenylamino moieties.

A novel asymmetric donor-π-donor-π-acceptor compound, 2-benzothiazolyl-8-diphenylamino-5,11-dihexylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (BDDAICZ), has been successfully synthesized by introducing a benzothiazole moiety (as an electron-acceptor) and a diphenylamino moiety (as an electron-donor) to 2-position and 8-position of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole moiety (as a skeleton and an electron-donor), and characterized by elemental analysis, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and MS. The thermal, electrochemical properties of BDDAICZ were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis combined with electrochemistry. The absorption and emission spectra of BDDAICZ was experimentally determined in several solvents and computed using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The calculated absorption and emission wavelengths are coincident with the measured data. The ionization potential (IP), the electron affinity (EA) and reorganization energy of BDDAICZ were also investigated using density functional theory (DFT). Charge-transporting properties of BDDAICZ were characterized by OLEDs devices fabricated by using it as charge-transport layers. The results show that BDDAICZ has excellent thermal stability, electrochemical stability and hole-transporting properties, indicating its potential application as a hole-transporting material in OLEDs devices.

Discovery of TD-4306, a long-acting ß2-agonist for the treatment of asthma and COPD.

A multivalent approach focused on amine-based secondary binding groups was applied to the discovery of long-acting inhaled ß2-agonists. Addition of amine moieties to the neutral secondary binding group of an existing ß2-agonist series was found to provide improved in vivo efficacy, but also led to the formation of biologically active aldehyde metabolites which were viewed as a risk for the development of these compounds. Structural simplification of the scaffold and blocking the site of metabolism to prevent aldehyde formation afforded a potent series of dibasic ß2-agonists with improved duration of action relative to their monobasic analogs. Additional optimization led to the discovery of 29 (TD-4306), a potent and selective ß2-agonist with potential for once-daily dosing.

Spectral studies of multi-branched fluorescence dyes based on triphenylpyridine core.

A series of novel triphenylpyridine-containing triphenylamine derivatives have been carefully designed and prepared in good yields using the stepwise route reactions. The relationship of photoluminescence property and structure of compounds 9-13 was systematically investigated via UV-vis, fluorescence, thermogravimetric and electrochemical analyzer. The highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital distributions of compounds 9-13 were calculated by density functional theory method. The high fluorescence quantum yields, desirable the highest occupied molecular orbital levels and high thermal stability of compounds 9-13 indicate that the linkage of triphenylpyridine and triphenylamine is an efficient means to enhance hole-transporting ability and fluorescent quantum yield.

Highly sensitive determination of low-level water content in organic solvents using novel solvatochromic dyes based on thioxanthone.

Two thioxanthone-based fluorescent probes exhibited prominent solvatofluorochromism, and they were further found to be useful as fluorescence indicators for the qualitative and quantitative detection of low-level water content in various solvent media.

A novel 2,6-dicarbonylpyridine-based fluorescent chemosensor for Co2+ with high selectivity and sensitivity.

A novel fluorescence chemosensor based on 2,6-dicarbonylpyridine was designed and synthesized and its photophysical properties were characterized. Upon coordination of Co(2+) by the central 2,6-dicarbonylpyridinyl functional group, the chemosensor 2,6-bis(4-diphenylamino-styrylcarbonyl)pyridine (PhPy) showed nearly complete fluorescence quenching, while no fluorescence response was seen towards other competing cations. The experimental results show the chemosensor is highly selective and sensitive towards Co(2+) in the presence of competing ions, even in the ppb range. Job plot analysis was carried out and the results suggested that the binding of PhPy and Co(2+) was probably a 2 : 1 stoichiometry.

Novel diphenylamine 2,4'-dicarboxamide based azoles as potential epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors: synthesis and biological activity.

Several hybrid molecules of diphenylamine-2,4'-dicarboxamide with various azolidinones and related heterocyclic rings have been synthesized and explored as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase inhibitors. Most of them displayed promising in vitro tyrosine kinase inhibition as well as potent cellular antiproliferative activity in the EGFR over-expressing breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Compounds 12b and 13b that exhibited the highest inhibition in the kinase assay (89, 81% inhibition at 10 µM, respectively), showed potent antiproliferative effect against MCF-7 tumor cell line (IC(50) 1.04, 0.91 µM respectively). Molecular docking studies revealed that these compounds can bind to ATP binding site of the EGFR kinase domain and were involved in H-bonding with Met 793, in analogy to the known EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Moreover, compounds 15a-c possessed profound antitumor activity (IC(50) 0.59-0.73 µM) and significant EGFR-TK inhibition, making them of particular interest. In summary, the newly synthesized compounds provide promising new lead for the future design and development of anticancer agents of potential EGFR-TK inhibitory activity.

Influence of substituents on the nitrogen atom of 3-[2-(4-aminophenyl)benzoxazol-5-yl]alanine derivatives on their photophysical properties--solvatochromic studies.

Spectral and photophysical properties of three derivatives of 3-[2-(4-aminophenyl)benzoxazol-5-yl]alanine were studied in 36 solvents. The amino group was substituted by methyl and/or phenyl in various combinations (N,N-dimethyl, N-phenyl, N-methyl-N-phenyl). It has been found that the type of substituents on the nitrogen atom determines the spectral and photophysical properties of the compounds studied. The change of the dipole moment in going from the ground to the excited state as well as the dependence of the spectral and photophysical properties of compounds on the solvent polarity parameter E(N)(T) were analyzed. Additionally, spectral and photophysical properties of the compounds studied were analyzed applying multi-linear correlation using the three-parameter solvents scales of Kamlet-Taft and Catalán. Moreover, the new four-parameter Catalán solvent scale, which takes into account polarizability, dipolarity, acidity, and basicity of the solvents, was also applied giving a better fit than the three-parameter solvent scales. The correlation analysis reveals that the position of the UV/Vis absorption band depends primarily on the change of polarizability of the environment of the dye, although the solvent dipolarity cannot be neglected. However, the position of the fluorescence band and photophysical properties such as the fluorescence rate constant depend mostly on the solvent dipolarity.

Synthesis and antiprotozoal activity of N-alkoxy analogues of the trypanocidal lead compound 4,4'-bis(imidazolinylamino)diphenylamine with improved human blood-brain barrier permeability.

To improve the blood-brain barrier permeability of the trypanocidal lead compound 4,4'-bis(imidazolinylamino)diphenylamine (1), five N-alkoxy analogues were synthesized from bis(4-isothiocyanatophenyl)amine and N-alkoxy-N-(2-aminoethyl)-2-nitrobenzenesulfonamides following successive chemical reactions in just one reactor ("one-pot procedure"). This involved: (a) formation of a thiourea intermediate, (b) removal of the amine protecting groups, and (c) intramolecular cyclization. The blood-brain barrier permeability of the compounds determined in vitro by transport assays through the hCMEC/D3 human cell line, a well-known and characterized human cellular blood-brain barrier model, showed that the N-hydroxy analogue 16 had enhanced blood-brain barrier permeability compared with the unsubstituted lead compound. Moreover, this compound displayed low micromolar IC(50) against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Plasmodium falciparum and moderate activity by intraperitoneal administration in the STIB900 murine model of acute sleeping sickness.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 2,4'-bis substituted diphenylamines as anticancer agents and potential epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Four new series of 2,4'-bis diphenylamine hydrazones 14, 2,4'-bis aminothiadiazole 16, 2,4'-bis mercaptotriazole 17-18 and 2,4'-bis mercapto-oxadiazole diphenylamine derivatives 19-20 were synthesized and evaluated for their ability to inhibit EGFR tyrosine kinase. Compound N-ethyl-5-{2-[4-(5-(ethylamino)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)- phenylamino]phenyl}-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine 16a was the most active enzyme inhibitor (98% inhibition at 10 microM). Moreover, all compounds that showed enzyme inhibition activity were tested in vitro on human breast carcinoma cell line (MCF-7) in which EGFR is highly expressed. The tested compounds exploited potent antitumor activity with IC(50) values ranging 0.73-2.38 microM. Molecular modeling and docking of the synthesized compounds into the active site of EGFR kinase domain showed good agreement with the obtained biological results. The present work represents a novel class of diphenylamine based derivatives with potent cytotoxicity and promising EGFR PTK inhibition activity.

Synthesis of diphenylamine-based novel fluorescent styryl colorants by Knoevenagel condensation using a conventional method, biocatalyst, and deep eutectic solvent.

Novel Y-shaped acceptor-pi-donor-pi-acceptor-type compounds, synthesized from 4,4'-hexyliminobisbenzaldehyde as electron donors and different active methylene compounds as electron acceptors, were produced by conventional Knoevenagel condensation alone, with a deep eutectic solvent, or with a lipase biocatalyst to compare the yield and recyclability among the three methods. Yield, reaction time, reaction temperature, and recyclability were compared among the three methods. The photophysical properties and thermal stability of the products were also investigated.

Delta agonist hydroxy bioisosteres: the discovery of 3-((1-benzylpiperidin-4-yl){4-[(diethylamino)carbonyl]phenyl}amino)benzamide with improved delta agonist activity and in vitro metabolic stability.

We have investigated phenol replacements in a series of diaryl amino piperidine delta opioid agonists. From this study we have demonstrated that the hydroxy functional group can be replaced with a primary amide group, giving enhanced activity at the delta receptor, increased selectivity versus mu and kappa as well as improved in vitro metabolic stability.

N,N-Diethyl-4-[(3-hydroxyphenyl)(piperidin-4-yl)amino] benzamide derivatives: the development of diaryl amino piperidines as potent delta opioid receptor agonists with in vivo anti-nociceptive activity in rodent models.

We have investigated a series of phenolic diaryl amino piperidine delta opioid receptor agonists, establishing the importance of the phenol functional group and substitution on the piperdine nitrogen for delta agonist activity and selectivity versus the mu and kappa opioid receptors. This study uncovered compounds with improved agonist potency and selectivity compared to the standard, non-peptidic delta agonist SNC-80. In vivo anti-nociceptive activity of analog 8e in two rodent models is discussed, demonstrating the potential of delta agonists to provide a novel mechanism for pain relief.

The discovery of the benzhydroxamate MEK inhibitors CI-1040 and PD 0325901.

A novel series of benzhydroxamate esters derived from their precursor anthranilic acids have been prepared and have been identified as potent MEK inhibitors. 2-(2-Chloro-4-iodo-phenylamino)-N-cyclopropylmethoxy-3,4-difluoro-benzamide, CI-1040, was the first MEK inhibitor to demonstrate in vivo activity in preclinical animal models and subsequently became the first MEK inhibitor to enter clinical trial. CI-1040 suffered however from poor exposure due to its poor solubility and rapid clearance, and as a result, development of the compound was terminated. Optimization of the diphenylamine core and modification of the hydroxamate side chain for cell potency, solubility, and exposure with oral delivery resulted in the discovery of the clinical candidate N-(2,3-dihydroxy-propoxy)-3,4-difluoro-2-(2-fluoro-4-iodo-phenylamino)-benzamide PD 0325901.