Imidazole-Derived Alkyl and Aryl Ethers: Synthesis, Characterization, In Vitro Anticancer and Antioxidant Activities, Carbonic Anhydrase I-II Inhibition Properties, and In Silico Studies.

Imidazole derivatives display extensive applications in pharmaceutical chemistry and have been investigated as bioactive compounds for medicinal chemistry. In this study, besides the starting materials (3a-c and 4a-c), synthesis, characterization, and biological activity studies were conducted on a total of 18 compounds, nine of which are known and the other nine are original. The compounds investigated in the study are a series of alkyl (7-15) and aryl (16-24) ether derivatives bearing substituted phenyl and imidazole rings, which were characterized using various methods including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR analysis, elemental analysis, and mass spectroscopy. Computer-aided drug design studies have been carried out to predict the biological activities of compounds. Besides DFT calculations, the binding affinities of the compounds to EGFR, VEGFR2, FGFR1, HSP90, hCA I, and hCA II were investigated. Additionally, drug-likeness and ADME analyses were performed on the compounds. Anticancer, antioxidant, and enzyme inhibition activity tests were performed in biological activity studies on the synthesized compounds. Among the synthesized compounds, compounds 17 and 19-24 generally exhibited inhibition profiles against the widespread cytosolic hCA I isozyme with IC50 values ranging from 4.13 to 15.67 nM and cytosolic hCA II isozyme with IC50 values ranging from 5.65 to 14.84 nM. L929 (mouse fibroblast cell line) was used as the control healthy cell line, and MCF7 (breast cancer), C6 (rat glioblastoma), and HT-29 (colon cancer) cells were used in cell culture studies as cancer cell lines. Before the study on cancer cells, all compounds were examined on healthy cells, and their cytotoxicity was determined. As a result of these data, studies continued with six compounds determined to be nontoxic. On cancerous cells, it was determined that compounds 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 4c, and 7 had cytotoxic effects on both colon cancer and brain tumors. It was found that compound 3b had a more toxic effect than cisplatin on the glioma cell line with an IC50 value of 10.721 ± 0.38 µM, and compound 3a had a more toxic effect on the colon cancer cell line with an IC50 value of 20.88 ± 1.02 µM. However, it was determined that the same compounds did not have a statistically significant effect on breast cancer. Flow cytometry studies also showed that when the IC50 dose of compound 3b was applied to the C6 cell line, the cells tended to early and late apoptosis. Additionally, it has been shown by flow cytometry that the cell cycle stops in the G0/G1 phase. A similar effect was observed in the colon cancer cell line with compound 3a. Compound 3b caused early and late apoptosis of the colon cancer cell line with the applied IC50 dose and stopped the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase. Finally, the FRAP method studied all synthesized compounds' antioxidant effects. According to the measured antioxidant power results, it was determined that no compound had a more effective reducing power than vitamin E.

Novel Thioether-Bridged 2,6-Disubstituted and 2,5,6-Trisubstituted Imidazothiadiazole Analogues: Synthesis, Antiproliferative Activity, ADME, and Molecular Docking Studies.

In this study, starting from 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives (3-5), a new series of 2,6-disubstituted (compounds 7-15) and 2,5,6-trisubstituted (compounds 16-33) imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]-thiadiazole derivatives were synthesized using cyclization and Mannich reaction mechanisms, respectively. All synthesized compounds were characterized by 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, FT-IR, elemental analysis, and mass spectroscopy techniques. Also, X-ray diffraction analysis were used for compounds 4, 7, 11, 17, and 19. The cytotoxic effects of the new compounds on the viability of colon cancer cells (DLD-1), lung cancer cells (A549), and liver cancer cells (HepG2) were investigated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method in vitro. Compound 15 was found to be the most potent anticancer drug candidate in this series with an IC50 value of 3.63 µM against HepG2 for 48 h. Moreover, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameters of the synthesized compounds were calculated and thus, their potential to be safe drugs was evaluated. Finally, to support the biological activity experiments, molecular docking studies of these compounds were carried out on three different target cancer protein structures (PDB IDs: 5ETY, 1M17, and 3GCW), and the amino acids that play key roles in the binding of the compounds to these proteins were determined.

Design and various in silico studies of the novel curcumin derivatives as potential candidates against COVID-19 -associated main enzymes.

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading severe acute respiratory syndrome in patients. Although various antiviral drugs and their combinations have been tried so far against SARS-CoV-2 and they have shown some effectiveness, there is still a need for safe and cost-effective binding inhibitors in the fight against COVID-19. Therefore, phytochemicals in nature can be a quick solution due to their wide therapeutic spectrum and strong antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. In this context, the low toxicity, and high pharmacokinetic properties of curcumin, which is a natural phytochemical, as well as the easy synthesizing of its derivatives reveal the need for investigation of its various derivatives as inhibitors against coronaviruses. The present study focused on curcumin derivatives with reliable ADME profile and high molecular binding potency to different SARS-CoV-2 target enzymes (3CLPro, PLpro, NSP7/8/12, NSP7/8/12 +RNA, NSP15, NSP16, Spike, Spike+ACE). In the molecular docking studies, the best binding scores for the 22 proposed curcumin derivatives were obtained for the PLpro protein. Furthermore, MD simulations were performed for high-affinity ligand-PLpro protein complexes and subsequently, Lys157, Glu161, Asp164, Arg166, Glu167, Met208, Pro247, Pro248, Tyr264, Tyr273 and Asp302 residues of PLpro was determined to play key role for ligand binding by Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA) analysis. The results of the study promise that the proposed curcumin derivatives can be potent inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 and be converted into pharmaceutical drugs. It is also expected that the findings may provide guiding insights to future design studies for synthesizing different antiviral derivatives of phytochemicals.

Synthesis, in vitro cytotoxicity, molecular docking and ADME study of some indolin-2-one linked 1,2,3-triazole derivatives.

In pursuit of an anticancer lead, a library of 1,2,3-triazole derivatives (7a-x) was prepared, characterized and screened for in vitro cytotoxicity in different cell lines. Most of the compounds proved to be cytotoxic with IC50 values in the low micromolar range. Further studies showed that the most active compound 7c induces caspase-dependent apoptosis in Jurkat cells by activating both the intrinsic and the extrinsic apoptotic pathways and perturbs cell-cycle progression. Moreover, 7c did not show any genotoxic activity. Molecular docking simulations were performed against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Docking experiments showed that, compounds 7c, 7o and 7 v bind within active sites of epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR (Pdb ID: 6P8Q) by strong hydrogen bonds with residue MET793, Pi-Sulfur with residue MET790 and Pi-Alkyl type interactions with residues LEU788, ALA743. The SwissADME webserver investigation suggested that most of the synthesized compounds follow the rules of drug-likeness.

Design, synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in silico evaluation of novel imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazoles as highly potent acetylcholinesterase and non-classical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors.

Imidazole and thiadiazole derivatives display an extensive application in pharmaceutical chemistry, and they have been investigated as bioactive molecules for medicinal chemistry purposes. Classical carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors are based on sulfonamide groups, but inhibiting all CA isoforms nonspecifically, thereby causing undesired side effects, is the main drawback of these types of inhibitors. Here we reported an investigation of novel 2,6-disubstituted imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole derivatives (9a-k, 10a, and 11a) and 2,5,6-trisubstituted imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole derivatives (12a-20a) that do not possess the zinc-binding sulfonamide group for the inhibition of human carbonic anhydrase (hCA, EC 4.2.1.1) I and II isoforms and also of acetylcholinesterase (AChE, EC 3.1.1.7). Imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazoles demonstrated low nanomolar inhibitory activity against hCA I, hCA II, and AChE (KIs are in the range of 23.44-105.50 nM, 10.32-104.70 nM, and 20.52-54.06 nM, respectively). Besides, compound 9b inhibit hCA I up to 18-fold compared to acetazolamide, while compound 10a has a 5-fold selectivity towards hCA II. The synthesized compounds were also evaluated for their cytotoxic effects on the L929 mouse fibroblast cell line. Molecular docking simulations were performed to elucidate these inhibitors' potential binding modes against hCA I and II isoforms and AChE. The novel compounds reported here can represent interesting lead compounds, and the results presented here might provide further structural guidance to discover and design more potent hCA and AChE inhibitors.

Synthesis, in silico ADME, molecular docking and in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of stilbene linked 1,2,3-triazoles.

Series of (E)-1-benzyl-4-((4-styrylphenoxy)methyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazoles 7a-x were obtained by Wittig reaction between 4-((1-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methoxy)benzaldehydes 5a-d and benzyl triphenylphosphonium halides 6a-f in benzene. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by FTIR, NMR (1H and 13C NMR) spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. All synthesized compounds were screened for their cytotoxic activity against human cancer cell lines including pancreatic carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, lung carcinoma, and leukemias such as acute lymphoblastic, chronic myeloid, and non-Hodgkinson lymphoma cell lines. In vitro cytotoxicity data showed that compounds 7c, 7e, 7h, 7j, 7k, 7r, and 7w were moderately cytotoxic (11.6-19.3 µM) against the selected cancer cell lines. These cytotoxicity findings were supported using molecular docking studies of the compounds against 1TUB receptor. The drug-likeness properties of the compounds evaluated by in silico ADME analyses. Resveratrol linked 1,2,3-triazoles were more sensitive towards human carcinoma cell lines but least sensitive towards leukemia and lymphoma cell lines.

An integrated approach towards the development of novel antifungal agents containing thiadiazole: synthesis and a combined similarity search, homology modelling, molecular dynamics and molecular docking study.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to synthesise and characterise novel compounds containing 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole and their acyl derivatives and to investigate antifungal activities. Similarity search, molecular dynamics and molecular docking were also studied to find out a potential target and enlighten the inhibition mechanism. RESULTS: As a first step, 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives (compounds 3 and 4) were synthesised with high yields (81 and 84%). The target compounds (6a-n and 7a-n) were then synthesised with moderate to high yields (56-87%) by reacting 3 and 4 with various acyl chloride derivatives (5a-n). The synthesized compounds were characterized using the IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, Mass, X-ray (compound 7n) and elemental analysis techniques. Later, the in vitro antifungal activities of the synthesised compounds were determined. The inhibition zones exhibited by the compounds against the tested fungi, their minimum fungicidal activities, minimum inhibitory concentration and the lethal dose values (LD50) were determined. The compounds exhibited moderate to high levels of activity against all tested pathogens. Finally, in silico modelling was used to enlighten inhibition mechanism using ligand and structure-based methods. As an initial step, similarity search was carried out and the resulting proteins that belong to Homo sapiens were used as reference in sequence similarity search to find the corresponding amino acid sequences in target organisms. Homology modelling was used to construct the protein structure. The stabilised protein structure obtained from molecular dynamics simulation was used in molecular docking. CONCLUSION: The overall results presented here might be a good starting point for the identification of novel and more active compounds as antifungal agents.

Design, Synthesis, SAR and Molecular Modeling Studies of Novel Imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]Thiadiazole Derivatives as Highly Potent Antimicrobial Agents.

In this study, a novel series of phenyl substituted imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole derivatives were synthesized, characterized and explored for antibacterial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli, Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis and antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited remarkable antimicrobial activities, some of which being ten times more potent than positive controls. The most promising compound showed excellent activity with MIC value of 0.03 µg/ml against both S. aureus and B. subtilis (MIC values of positive compound Chloramphenicol are 0.4 µg/ml and 0.85 µg/ml, respectively). Furthermore, structure-activity relationship was also investigated with the help of computational tools. Some physicochemical and ADME properties of the compounds were calculated too. The combination of electronic structure calculations performed at PM6 level and molecular docking simulations using Glide extra-precision mode showed that the hydrophobic nature of keto aryl ring with no electron withdrawing substituents at para position enhances activity while electron-donating substituents at the second aryl ring is detrimental to activity.

Novel olefinic-centered macroacyclic compounds involving tetrasubstituted 4-hydroxybenzoic acid fragments: synthesis, structural characterization and comparison of experimental and computational results.

Dialkyl 4,4'-(2-(1,3-bis(4-(alkoxycarbonyl)phenoxy)propan-2-ylidene)propane-1,3-diyl)bis (oxy)dibenzoate 6a,b were synthesized through the reaction of ethene-1,1,2,2,-tetra-yl-tetra methylene tetra bromide 1 with methyl 4-hydroxy benzoate or ethyl 4-hydroxy benzoate 2a,b. In addition, compounds 6a,b were obtained by using the esterification reaction from the reaction compound 5 with methyl and ethyl alcohol in high yields. Compound 4 was synthesized from the reaction of ethene-1,1,2,2,-tetra-yl-tetra methylene tetra bromide 1 with 4-hydroxy benzonitrile 3. The structures of the novel synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, COSY, elemental analysis, and mass spectral data. Compound 6b, C42H44O12, was also characterized with additional analysis such as UV-vis, and X-ray spectral techniques. The electronic structure of compound 6b was studied by DFT level 6-31G∗(d,p) using X-ray crystallographic data. The results obtained from this study are consistent with the X-ray data. In order to understand the electronic transitions of the compound 6b, time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were carried out. TD-DFT studies showed that the low-energy excitations are consistent with the experimental results.

1-[2-(2,4-Dichloro-benz-yloxy)-2-(2-fur-yl)eth-yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole.

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(15)H(13)Cl(2)N(3)O(2), the triazole ring is oriented at dihedral angles of 14.8 (2) and 81.5 (1)° to the furan and dichloro-benzene rings, respectively. The dihedral angle between the dichloro-benzene and furan rings is 86.3 (2)°. An intra-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bond results in the formation of a planar [maximum deviation 0.012 (2) Å] five-membered ring, which is oriented at a dihedral angle of 0.90 (7)° with respect to the dichloro-benzene ring. There is an inter-molecular C-H⋯π contact between the methyl-ene group and the dichloro-benzene ring.

1-[2-(2,6-Dichloro-benz-yloxy)-2-(2-fur-yl)eth-yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole.

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(15)H(13)Cl(2)N(3)O(2), the triazole ring is oriented at dihedral angles of 2.54 (13) and 44.43 (12)°, respectively with respect to the furan and dichloro-benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the dichloro-benzene and furan rings is 46.75 (12)°. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into centrosymmetric dimers and π-π contacts between dichloro-benzene rings [centroid-centroid distance = 3.583 (2) Å] may further stabilize the structure. Inter-molecular C-H⋯π contacts between the triazole and furan rings also occur.

1-Phenyl-2-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)ethanone.

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(10)H(9)N(3)O, the triazole and phenyl rings are nearly perpendicular to each other, with a dihedral angle of 88.72 (4)°. In the crystal structure, inter-molecular C-H⋯O and C-H⋯N hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules. There are C-H⋯π contacts between the 1,2,4-triazole rings, and between the phenyl and 1,2,4-triazole rings, and there is a weak π-π contact between the 1,2,4-triazole and phenyl rings [centroid-to-centroid distance = 4.547 (1) Å].

1-[2-(2,4-Dichloro-benz-yloxy)-2-phenyl-ethyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole.

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(17)H(15)Cl(2)N(3)O, the triazole ring is oriented at dihedral angles of 9.24 (6) and 82.49 (6)°, respectively, with respect to the phenyl and dichloro-benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the dichloro-benzene and phenyl rings is 88.57 (5)°. An intra-molecular C-H⋯O contact results in the formation of a planar five-membered ring.

1-[2-(4-Bromo-benz-yloxy)-2-phenyl-ethyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole.

In the mol-ecule of the title compound, C(17)H(16)BrN(3)O, the triazole ring is oriented at dihedral angles of 6.14 (9)° and 82.08 (9)°, respectively, with respect to the phenyl and bromo-benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the bromo-benzene and phenyl rings is 87.28 (7)°. The intra-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bond results in the formation of a planar five-membered ring, which is oriented at a dihedral angle of 0.13 (6)° with respect to the bromo-benzene ring. There is an inter-molecular C-H⋯π contact between a methyl-ene group and the bromo-benzene ring.

1-Phenyl-2-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)ethanol.

In the title compound, C(10)H(11)N(3)O, the planar five- and six-membered rings are nearly parallel to each other, making a dihedral angle of 2.52 (5)°. Weak inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into centrosymmetric dimers and strong inter-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds link the dimers into infinite chains along the b axis.