Biological activity and computational analysis of novel acrylonitrile derived benzazoles as potent antiproliferative agents for pancreatic adenocarcinoma with antioxidative properties.

Continuing our research into the anticancer properties of acrylonitriles, we present a study involving the design, synthesis, computational analysis, and biological assessment of novel acrylonitriles derived from methoxy, hydroxy, and N-substituted benzazole. Our aim was to examine how varying the number of methoxy and hydroxy groups, as well as the N-substituents on the benzimidazole core, influences their biological activity. The newly synthesized acrylonitriles exhibited strong and selective antiproliferative effects against the Capan-1 pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line, with IC50 values ranging from 1.2 to 5.3 µM. Consequently, these compounds were further evaluated in three other pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines, while their impact on normal PBMC cells was also investigated to determine selectivity. Among these compounds, the monohydroxy-substituted benzimidazole derivative 27 emerged with the most profound and broad-spectrum anticancer antiproliferative activity being emerged as a promising lead candidate. Moreover, a majority of the acrylonitriles in this series exhibited significant antioxidative activity, surpassing that of the reference molecule BHT, as demonstrated by the FRAP assay (ranging from 3200 to 5235 mmolFe2+/mmolC). Computational analysis highlighted the prevalence of electron ionization in conferring antioxidant properties, with computed ionization energies correlating well with observed activities.

N-substituted benzimidazole acrylonitriles as in vitro tubulin polymerization inhibitors: Synthesis, biological activity and computational analysis.

We present the design, synthesis and biological activity of novel N-substituted benzimidazole based acrylonitriles as potential tubulin polymerization inhibitors. Their synthesis was achieved using classical linear organic and microwave assisted techniques, starting from aromatic aldehydes and N-substituted-2-cyanomethylbenzimidazoles. All newly prepared compounds were tested for their antiproliferative activity in vitro on eight human cancer cell lines and one reference non-cancerous assay. N,N-dimethylamino substituted acrylonitriles 30 and 41, bearing N-isobutyl and cyano substituents placed on the benzimidazole nuclei, showed strong and selective antiproliferative activity in the submicromolar range of inhibitory concentrations (IC50 0.2-0.6 µM), while being significantly less toxic than reference systems docetaxel and staurosporine, thus promoting them as lead compounds. Mechanism of action studies demonstrated that two most active compounds inhibited tubulin polymerization. Computational analysis confirmed the suitability of the employed benzimidazole-acrylonitrile skeleton for the binding within the colchicine binding site in tubulin, thus rationalizing the observed antitumor activities, and demonstrated that E-isomers are active substances. It also provided structural determinants affecting both the binding position and the matching affinities, identifying the attached NMe2 group as the most dominant in promoting the binding, which allows ligands to optimize favourable cation∙∙∙π and hydrogen bonding interactions with Lys352.

Controlled assembly of AIEgens based on a super-quadruplex scaffold for detection of plasma membrane proteins.

Quantification of plasma membrane proteins (PMPs) is crucial for understanding the fundamentals of cellular signaling systems and their related diseases. In this work, a super-quadruplex scaffold was designed to regulate assembly of oligonucleotide-grafted AIEgens for detection of PMPs. The nonfluorescence oligonucleotide-grafted AIEgen (Oligo-AIEgen) was firstly synthesized by attaching the AIEgen to 3'-terminus of the oligonucleotide through click chemistry. Meanwhile, the tetramolecular hairpin-conjugated super-quadruplex (THP-G4) as cleavage element and signal enhancement scaffold composited of three elements: a substrate sequence of DNAzyme in the loop region, partial hybridization region in the stem, and six guanine nucleotides to form G-quadruplex. Once the DNAzyme was anchored on the specific PMPs through aptamer-protein recognition, the substrate sequence on the loop of THP-G4 was cleaved by DNAzyme with the aid of cofactor MnII, resulting in the conformation switch of THP-G4 to the activated G-quadruplex scaffold. The latter could assemble Oligo-AIEgens to generate aggregation-induced emission (AIE) enhancement, resulting in a simple and sensitive strategy for detection of membrane proteins. Moreover, the DNAzyme continuously cut the next THP-G4 to achieve recycling amplification. Under the optimized conditions, this AIE-based strategy exhibited good linear relationship with the logarithm of MUC1 concentration from 0.01 to 10 µg mL-1 with the limit of detection down to 4.3 ng mL-1. The G4-assembled AIEgens provides a universal platform for detecting various biomolecules and a proof-of concept for AIE biosensing.

Functionalized Acrylonitriles with Aggregation-Induced Emission: Structure Tuning by Simple Reaction-Condition Variation, Efficient Red Emission, and Two-Photon Bioimaging.

Acrylonitriles with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics have been found to show promising applications in two-photon biomedical imaging. Generally, elaborate synthetic efforts are required to achieve different acrylonitriles with distinct functionalities. In this work, we first reported the synthesis of two different group-functionalized AIE-active acrylonitriles (TPAT-AN-XF and 2TPAT-AN) obtained simply by mixing the same reactants at different temperatures using a facile and transition metal-free synthetic method. These two AIE luminogens (AIEgens) exhibit unique properties such as bright red emission in the solid state, large Stokes shift, and large two-photon absorption cross section. Water-soluble nanoparticles (NPs) of 2TPAT-AN were prepared by a nanoprecipitation method. In vitro imaging data show that 2TPAT-AN NPs can selectively stain lysosome in live cells. Besides one-photon imaging, remarkable two-photon imaging of live tumor tissues can be achieved with high resolution and deep tissue penetration. 2TPAT-AN NPs show high biocompatibility and are successfully utilized in in vivo long-term imaging of mouse tumors with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Thus, the present work is anticipated to shed light on the preparation of a library of AIE-active functionalized acrylonitriles with intriguing properties for biomedical applications.

Conformationally Induced Off-On Two-Photon Fluorescent Bioprobes for Dynamically Tracking the Interactions among Multiple Organelles.

Unveiling the synergism among multiple organelles for fully exploring the mysteries of the cell has drawn more and more attention. Herein, we developed two two-photon fluorescent bioprobes (Lyso-TA and Mito-QA), of which the conformational change triggered an "off-on" fluorescent response. Lyso-TA can real-time monitor the fusion and movement of lysosomes as well as unveil the mitophagy process with the engagement of lysosomes. Mito-QA was transformed from Lyso-TA by one-step ambient temperature reaction, visualizing the dysfunctional mitochondria through a shift from mitochondria to nucleoli. With superior two-photon absorption cross section, good biocompatibility, and greater penetration depth, two small bioprobes were both applied in in vivo bioimaging of brain tissues and zebrafish.

Z-Acrylonitrile Derivatives: Improved Synthesis, X-ray Structure, and Interaction with Human Serum Albumin.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: In the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, acrylonitrile derivatives are the most important and appropriate precursors. These compounds are the most important intermediates and subunits for the enhancement of molecules having pharmaceutical or biological interests. Nitrogen-containing compounds have received extensive consideration in the literature over the years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A facile, economic and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of acrylonitrile derivatives using p-nitrophenylacetonitrile and aromatic/heterocyclic aldehydes in the presence of zinc chloride at room temperature. Spectroscopic data were obtained using the following instruments: Fourier transform infrared spectra (KBr discs, 4000-400 cm-1) by Shimadzu IR-408 Perkin-Elmer 1800 instrument; 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra by Bruker Avance-II 400 MHz using DMSO-d6 as a solvent containing TMS as the internal standard. RESULTS: To continue our ongoing studies to synthesize heterocyclic and pharmaceutical compounds by mild, facile and efficient protocols, herein we wish to report our experimental results on the synthesis of acrylonitrile derivatives, using various aromatic/heterocyclic aldehydes and p-nitrophenylacetonitrile in the presence of zinc chloride in ethanolic media at room temperature. Some of the new compounds were tested for their human serum albumin activity (HSA) while a study of interaction with HSA protein was performed for compounds 3a and 3b. The results show that compound 3b binds tightly to HSA as compared to compound 3a. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that acrylonitrile derivatives can be synthesized by an efficient method via the reaction of p-nitrophenylacetonitrile with aromatic/heterocyclic aldehydes by the use of zinc chloride as an effective solid catalyst. The remarkable features of this procedure include excellent yields (90-95%), short reaction period (30 min.), moderate reaction environment, easy workup procedure and managing of the catalyst. This method may find a wide significance in organic synthesis for the synthesis of the Z-acrylonitrile.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of 2,3-diphenyl acrylonitriles-bearing halogen as selective anticancer agents.

Eighteen novel 2,3-diphenyl acrylonitrile derivatives bearing halogens were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for biological activity. Preliminary in vitro results indicated that the majority of the compounds with a para-substituted halogen had considerable antiproliferative activity against five human cancer cell lines, including MGC-803, AGS, and BEL-7402, with IC50 values in the range of 0.46-100 µm. No significant toxic effects on the non-cancerous human liver cell line L-02 were observed. The selective inhibitory activities against cancer cells were significantly better than that of the control lead compound CA-4 and CA-4P. Particularly, potent activities were found for the derivatives of 3-(4-halogen phenyl)-2-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)acrylonitrile, such as 5c (4-fluoro), 5f (4-bromo), 5h (4-chloro), and 5k (4-trifluoro- methyl), for AGS with IC50 values of 0.75 ± 0.24, 0.68 ± 0.21, 0.41 ± 0.05, and 1.49 ± 0.92 µm, respectively. The antiproliferative effects of 5f were attributed to cell-cycle arrest in the G2 /M phase, induction of cellular apoptosis, suppression of cell migration, and inhibition of cell colony formation in AGS cells.

α-Aroylketene Dithioacetal Mediated Synthesis of (E)-3-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylamino)-2-(1-methyl-1H-indole-3-carbonyl)-3-(methylthio)acrylonitrile Derivatives and their Biological Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: The blending of two pharmacophores would generate novel molecular templates that are likely to exhibit interesting biological properties. OBJECTIVE: A facile, efficient and high yielding synthesis of (E)-3-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylamino)-2-(1-methyl-1Hindole- 3-carbonyl)-3-(methylthio) acrylonitrile derivatives and evaluation of therapeutic potential. METHOD: The synthesis of target molecules has been achieved by reacting 2-aminobenzothiazole and substituted 2-(1-methyl-1H-indole-3-carbonyl)-3,3-bis(methylthio)acrylonitrile in the presence of a catalytic amount of sodium hydride in THF. Structural investigations were carried using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, and HRMS data. RESULTS: In vitro anti-tumor evaluation of the synthesized compounds against MCF-7 (breast carcinoma) cell line revealed that they possess good anti-tumor activities. Compounds, 4j and 4i demonstrated significant activities against breast carcinoma (GI50 14.3 and 19.5 µM respectively). Most of the synthesized compounds were also found to be excellent NO, H2O2, DPPH, and superoxide radical scavengers. Anti-diabetic and antiinflammatory evaluation also displayed moderate activity. CONCLUSION: Among the compounds synthesized some of the compounds possess significant anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Synthesis of novel benzimidazole acrylonitriles for inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum growth by dual target inhibition.

Antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as a threat for treating malaria, generating a need to design and develop newer, more efficient antimalarial agents. This research aimed to identify novel leads as antimalarials. Dual receptor mechanism could be a good strategy to combat developing drug resistance. A series of benzimidazole acrylonitriles containing 18 compounds were designed, synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxicity, heme binding, ferriprotoporphyrin IX biomineralisation inhibition, and falcipain-2 enzyme assay. Furthermore, in silico docking and MD simulation studies were also performed.The tests revealed quite encouraging results. Three compounds, viz. R-01 (0.69 µM), R-04 (1.60 µM), and R-08 (1.61 µM), were found to have high antimalarial activity. These compounds were found to be in bearable cytotoxicity limits and their biological assay suggested that they had inhibitory activity against falcipain-2 and hemozoin formation. The docking revealed the binding mode of benzimidazole acrylonitrile derivatives and MD simulation studies revealed that the protein-ligand complex was stable. The agents exhibit good hemozoin formation inhibition activity and, hence, may be utilized as leads to design a newer drug class to overcome the drug resistance of hemozoin formation inhibitors such as chloroquine.

Antibacterial activity and mechanism of action of the benzazole acrylonitrile-based compounds: In vitro, spectroscopic, and docking studies.

A new series of pyrimidine derivatives 5, 9a-d and 12a-d was synthesized by an efficient procedure. The antibacterial activity of the new compounds was studied against four bacterial strains. Compound 5 was found to exhibit the highest potency, with = 1.0 µg/ml, against both Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa when compared with amoxicillin (MIC = 1.0-1.5 µg/mL). Transmission electron microscope results confirmed that activities against bacteria occurred via rupturing of the cell wall. Molecular modeling results suggested that compounds 5, 9a-d and 12a-d have the potential to irreversibly bind to the penicillin-binding protein (PBP) Ser62 residue in the active site and were able to overcome amoxicillin resistance in bacteria by inhibiting the ß-lactamase enzyme. Docking studies showed that compounds 5, 9a-d and 12a-d inhibit the ß-lactamase enzyme through covalent bonding with Ser70. The synergistic effect with amoxicillin was studied. The newly synthesized compounds reported in this study warrant further consideration as prospective antimicrobial agents.

Synthesis and bioactivity evaluation of 2,3-diaryl acrylonitrile derivatives as potential anticancer agents.

Thirty novel derivatives of 2,3-diaryl acrylonitrile were synthesized and evaluated for biological activity. Preliminary investigations of antitumor activity in vitro showed that most of the synthesized compounds have significant antiproliferative effects on human cancer cell lines, such as BEL-7402, HeLa, and HCT116 with IC50 values in the range of 0.13-60.23µM without significant toxic effects on the non-cancerous human liver cell line L-02. In particular, compounds 4d and 4p were found to be the most potent against HeLa (4.20µM) and HCT116 cells (0.13µM), respectively, with superior or similar in vitro efficacy to that of the broad-spectrum anticancer drug taxol.

Synthesis, Acaricidal Activity, and Structure-Activity Relationships of Pyrazolyl Acrylonitrile Derivatives.

A series of novel pyrazolyl acrylonitrile derivatives was designed, targeting Tetranychus cinnabarinus, and synthesized. Their structures were identified by combination of 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and MS spectra. The structures of compounds 18 and 19 were further confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Extensive greenhouse bioassays indicated that compound 19 exhibits excellent acaricidal activity against all developmental stages of T. cinnabarinus, which is better than the commercialized compounds cyenopyrafen and spirodiclofen. It was shown that the acute toxicity of compounds 19 to mammals is quite low. The structure-activity relationships are also discussed.

Design and synthesis of triarylacrylonitrile analogues of tamoxifen with improved binding selectivity to protein kinase C.

The clinical selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen is also a modest inhibitor of protein kinase C, a target implicated in several untreatable brain diseases such as amphetamine abuse. This inhibition and tamoxifen's ability to cross the blood brain barrier make it an attractive scaffold to conduct further SAR studies toward uncovering effective therapies for such diseases. Utilizing the known compound 6a as a starting template and guided by computational tools to derive physicochemical properties known to be important for CNS permeable drugs, the design and synthesis of a small series of novel triarylacrylonitrile analogues have been carried out providing compounds with enhanced potency and selectivity for PKC over the estrogen receptor relative to tamoxifen. Shortened synthetic routes compared to classical procedures have been developed for analogues incorporating a ß-phenyl ring, which involve installing dialkylaminoalkoxy side chains first off the α and/or α' rings of a precursor benzophenone and then condensing the resultant ketones with phenylacetonitrile anion. A second novel, efficient and versatile route utilizing Suzuki chemistry has also been developed, which will allow for the introduction of a wide range of ß-aryl or ß-heteroaryl moieties and side-chain substituents onto the acrylonitrile core. For analogues possessing a single side chain off the α- or α'-ring, novel 2D NMR experiments have been carried out that allow for unambiguous assignment of E- and Z-stereochemistry. From the SAR analysis, one compound, 6c, shows markedly increased potency and selectivity for inhibiting PKC with an IC50 of 80nM for inhibition of PKC protein substrate and >10µM for binding to the estrogen receptor α (tamoxifen IC50=20µM and 222nM, respectively). The data on 6c provide support for further exploration of PKC as a druggable target for the treatment of amphetamine abuse.

Synthesis of l-indospicine, [5,5,6-(2)H3]-l-indospicine and l-norindospicine.

Indospicine is a non-proteogenic amino acid that accumulates as the free amino acid in livestock grazing Indigofera plant species and causes both reproductive losses and hepatotoxic effects. An efficient synthetic route to l-indospicine from l-homoserine lactone is described. The methodology is applicable for the synthesis of both deuterium labelled isotopomers and structural analogues for utilisation in biological studies. The key steps are a zinc mediated Barbier reaction with acrylonitrile and a Pinner reaction that together introduce the target amidine moiety.

Synthesis, Cytotoxic Activity on Leukemia Cell Lines and Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) Studies of Morita-Baylis-Hillman Adducts.

BACKGROUND: The Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction is an organocatalyzed chemical transformation that allows access to small poly-functionalized molecules and has considerable synthetic potential and promising biological profiles. The Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts (MBHA) are a new class of bioactive compounds and highlight its potentialities to the discovery of new cheaper and efficient drugs, e.g. as anti-Leishmania chagasi and Leishmania amazonensis, anti- Trypanosoma cruzi, anti-Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei, lethal against Biomphalaria glabrata, antibacterial, antifungal, herbicide and others. METHODS: The goal of this work is to describe the primary cytotoxic activities against strains of human leukemia HL-60 cell line for thirty-four Morita-Baylis- Hillman adducts (MBHA), followed by a Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships study (QSAR). RESULTS: The conventional or microwave-assisted syntheses of MBHA, derived from substituted aromatics or Isatin, were performed in good to excellent yields (70-100%) in short reaction times, using protocols recently developed by us. Isatin derivatives, MBHA 31 and 32, were the most active in this congener series of compounds, with IC50 values of 10.8 µM and 7.8 µM, respectively. The primary cytotoxic activities against chronic leukemia cells (K562) were also evaluated to these two most active compounds (MBHA 31 and 32), presenting IC50 values of 53 µM and 43 µM respectively. QSAR study was performed considering 3D, 2D and constitutional molecular descriptors. These were selected from Ordered Predictor Selection algorithm and submitted to Partial Least Squares Modeling. CONCLUSION: We present an interesting investigation about cytotoxic activities on human leukemia cell line (HL-60) for 34 synthetic MBHA. In a good way we discovered that the most cytotoxic compounds (31-32, 10.8 µM and 7.8 µM respectively) were also prepared quantitatively (100% yields) in a short reaction time using microwave irradiation. We demonstrate that 31 and 32 induced apoptosis and not necrosis in HL-60 cells, observed by externalization of PS and increase Anexin-V positive cells. Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships considering 3D, 2D and constitutional descriptors provided a robust and predictive PLS model, in accordance with SAR observations.

Coconut shell powder as cost effective filler in copolymer of acrylonitrile and butadiene rubber.

Filler is one of the major additives in rubber compounds to enhance the physical properties. Even though numerous benefits obtained from agricultural by products like coconut shell, rice husk etc., still they constitute a large source of environmental pollution. In this investigation, one of the agricultural bye product coconut shell powder (CSP) is used as filler in the compounding KNB rubber. It shows the positive and satisfied result was achieved only by the use of filler Fast Extrusion Furnace (FEF) and coconut shell powder (CSP) which was used 50% in each. The effect of these fillers on the mechanical properties of a rubber material at various loading raging from 0 to 60PHP was studied. Mercaptodibanzothiazole disulphide (MBTS) was used as an accelerator. The result shows that presence of 25% and 50% of the composites has better mechanical properties like Hardness, Tensile strength, Elongation at break and Specific gravity when compared with other two combinations. Even though both 25% and 50% of composites shows good mechanical properties, 50% of CSP have more efficient than 25% of CSP.

Conformational and Molecular Structures of α,ß-Unsaturated Acrylonitrile Derivatives: Photophysical Properties and Their Frontier Orbitals.

We report single crystal X-ray diffraction (hereafter, SCXRD) analyses of derivatives featuring the electron-donor N-ethylcarbazole or the (4-diphenylamino)phenyl moieties associated with a -CN group attached to a double bond. The compounds are (2Z)-3-(4-(diphenylamino)-phenyl)-2-(pyridin-3-yl)prop-2-enenitrile (I), (2Z)-3-(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)-2-(pyridin-4-yl)-prop-2-enenitrile (II) and (2Z)-3-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-2-(pyridin-2-yl)enenitrile (III). SCXRD analyses reveal that I and III crystallize in the monoclinic space groups P2/c with Z' = 2 and C2/c with Z' = 1, respectively. Compound II crystallized in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn with Z' = 1. The molecular packing analysis was conducted to examine the pyridine core effect, depending on the ortho, meta- and para-positions of the nitrogen atom, with respect to the optical properties and number of independent molecules (Z'). It is found that the double bond bearing a diphenylamino moiety introduced properties to exhibit a strong π-π-interaction in the solid state. The compounds were examined to evaluate the effects of solvent polarity, the role of the molecular structure, and the molecular interactions on their self-assembly behaviors. Compound I crystallized with a cell with two conformers, anti and syn, due to interaction with solvent. DFT calculations indicated the anti and syn structures of I are energetically stable (less than 1 eV). Also electrochemical and photophysical properties of the compounds were investigated, as well as the determination of optimization calculations in gas and different solvent (chloroform, cyclohexane, methanol, ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane and dimethyl sulfoxide) in the Gaussian09 program. The effect of solvent by PCM method was also investigated. The frontier HOMO and LUMO energies and gap energies are reported.

Enantioselective cyclopropanation of (Z)-3-substituted-2-(4-pyridyl)-acrylonitriles catalyzed by Cinchona ammonium salts.

Cyclopropane esters holding two quaternary centres were prepared in high yields, complete diastereoselection and up to 83% ee. The reaction described herein entailed reacting (Z)-3-substituted-2-(4-pyridyl)-acrylonitrile, a reactive class of Michael acceptor, with 2-bromomalonate esters in the presence of Cinchona derived phase-transfer catalysts. The reaction allowed multi-gram preparation of the desired products.

New MKLP-2 inhibitors in the paprotrain series: Design, synthesis and biological evaluations.

Members of the kinesin superfamily are involved in key functions during intracellular transport and cell division. Their involvement in cell division makes certain kinesins potential targets for drug development in cancer chemotherapy. The two most advanced kinesin targets are Eg5 and CENP-E with inhibitors in clinical trials. Other mitotic kinesins are also being investigated for their potential as prospective drug targets. One recently identified novel potential cancer therapeutic target is the Mitotic kinesin-like protein 2 (MKLP-2), a member of the kinesin-6 family, which plays an essential role during cytokinesis. Previous studies have shown that inhibition of MKLP-2 leads to binucleated cells due to failure of cytokinesis. We have previously identified compound 1 (paprotrain) as the first selective inhibitor of MKLP-2. Herein we describe the synthesis and biological evaluation of new analogs of 1. Our structure-activity relationship (SAR) study reveals the key chemical elements in the paprotrain family necessary for MKLP-2 inhibition. We have successfully identified one MKLP-2 inhibitor 9a that is more potent than paprotrain. In addition, in vitro analysis of a panel of kinesins revealed that this compound is selective for MKLP-2 compared to other kinesins tested and also does not have an effect on microtubule dynamics. Upon testing in different cancer cell lines, we find that the more potent paprotrain analog is also more active than paprotrain in 10 different cancer cell lines. Increased selectivity and higher potency is therefore a step forward toward establishing MKLP-2 as a potential cancer drug target.

Design, synthesis, and anti-melanogenic effects of (E)-2-benzoyl-3-(substituted phenyl)acrylonitriles.

BACKGROUND: Tyrosinase is the most prominent target for inhibitors of hyperpigmentation because it plays a critical role in melaninogenesis. Although many tyrosinase inhibitors have been identified, from both natural and synthetic sources, there remains a considerable demand for novel tyrosinase inhibitors that are safer and more effective. METHODS: (E)-2-Benzoyl-3-(substituted phenyl)acrylonitriles (BPA analogs) with a linear ß-phenyl-α,ß-unsaturated carbonyl scaffold were designed and synthesized as potential tyrosinase inhibitors. We evaluated their effects on cellular tyrosinase activity and melanin biosynthesis in murine B16F10 melanoma cells and their ability to inhibit mushroom tyrosinase activity. RESULTS: BPA analogs exhibited inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase. In particular, BPA13 significantly suppressed melanin biosynthesis and inhibited cellular tyrosinase activity in B16F10 cells in a dose-dependent manner. A docking study revealed that BPA13 had higher binding affinity for tyrosinase than kojic acid. CONCLUSION: BPA13, which possesses a linear ß-phenyl-α,ß-unsaturated carbonyl scaffold, is a potential candidate skin-whitening agent and treatment for diseases associated with hyperpigmentation.