Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular modeling of benzofuran piperidine derivatives as Aß antiaggregant.

A series of benzofuran piperidine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated as multifunctional Aß antiaggregant to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). In vitro results revealed that all of them are very good Aß antiaggregants and some of the compounds are potent acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors with moderate antioxidant property. Selected compounds were also tested for neuroprotection activity, LDH release, ATP production and inhibitory activity to prevent Aß peptides binding to the cell membrane. The different modifications introduced in the structure of our lead compound 3 (hAChE IC50 = 61 µM and self induced Aß 25-35 aggregation 45.45%), to increase its activity toward AD related targets. The most interesting multifunctional Aß antiaggregants were compounds 3a, 3h and 3i, highlighting 3h as potent Aß antiaggregant and good antiacetylholinesterase inhibitor (self induced Aß 25-35 aggregation 57.71% and hAChE IC50 = 21 µM), with good neuroprotective and antioxidant activity. In addition, these three most promising compounds prevent intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and cell apoptosis induced by Aß25-35 peptides in SH-SY5Y cells. Molecular docking studies were also accomplished to understand the binding interaction of these compounds on Aß monomer, Aß fibril and AChE. Based on all data, compounds 3a, 3h and 3i were concluded as potent multifunctional Aß antiaggregant, useful candidate for the treatment of AD.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of geniposide derivatives as potent and selective PTPlB inhibitors.

Herein a series of Geniposide derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated as protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTPlB) inhibitors. Most of these compounds exhibited potent in vitro PTP1B inhibitory activities, the representative 7a and 17f were found to be the most potent inhibitors against the enzyme with IC50 values of 0.35 and 0.41 µM, respectively. More importantly, they showcased 4 to10-fold selectivity over SHP2 and 3-fold over TCPTP. Further biological activity studies revealed that compounds 7a, 17b and 17f could effectively enhance insulin-stimulated glucose uptake with no significant cytotoxicity. Subsequent molecular docking and structural activity relationship analyses demonstrated that the glucose scaffold, benzylated glycosyl groups, and arylethenesulfonic acid ester significantly impact on the activity and selectivity.

Investigation of stereoisomeric bisarylethenesulfonic acid esters for discovering potent and selective PTP1B inhibitors.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) has been considered as a promising therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity due to its key regulating effects in insulin signaling and leptin receptor pathways. In this work, a series of cis- and trans-pyrrolidine bisarylethenesulfonic acid esters were prepared and their PTP1B inhibitory potency, selectivity and membrane permeability were evaluated. These novel stereoisomeric molecules especially trans-isomers exhibited remarkable inhibitory activity, significant selectivity as well as good membrane permeability (e.g. compound 28a, IC50 = 120, 1940 and 2670 nM against PTP1B, TCPTP and SHP2 respectively, and Papp = 1.74 × 10-6 cm/s). Molecular simulations indicated that trans-pyrrolidine bisarylethenesulfonic acid esters yielded the stronger binding affinity than their cis-isomers by constructing more interactions with non-catalytic sites of PTP1B. Further biological activity studies revealed that compound 28a could enhance insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and insulin-mediated insulin receptor ß (IRß) phosphorylation with no significant cytotoxicity.