Speculative analysis on the electronic structure, IR assignments and molecular docking of N-{4-[(4-amino-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-1-yl)sulfonyl]phenyl}acetamide, an anti-amoebic agent.

An exhaustive quantum mechanical calculations on a pharmaceutically critical molecule N-{4-[(4-amino-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-1-yl)sulfonyl]phenyl}acetamide have been investigated through the B3LYP/6-31G∗∗ Density Functional and HF/6-31G∗∗ Wave Function techniques. Physicochemical parameters along with the advanced electronic structure parameters like; MEP (molecular electrostatic potentials) and highest occupied & lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO-LUMO) analysis have additionally been scanned over both methods. The computed HOMO-LUMO energy demonstrates that charge exchange takes place inside the molecule. The estimated small HOMO-LUMO energy gap, through both methods, indicates that the molecule is chemically reactive. Further, the IR vibrational spectra of the molecule have been assigned in the region 400-4000 cm-1 through the DFT technique. The anticipated vibrational assignments have been compared with the experimental values accounted for in the literature. To comprehend the mode of binding, docking investigations of the molecule alongwith the co-crystallized metronidazole (MNZ) molecule were accomplished with O-acetyl-serine-sulfhydrylase (OASS) enzyme using GLIDE-SP and GLIDE-XP modules. Docking simulations and reported biological activities (IC50) demonstrate that the title molecule may act as a lead molecule for constraining the progression of Entamoeba histolytica illness.

Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines as novel inhibitors of O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase of Entamoeba histolytica: an in silico study.

Amoebiasis, a worldwide explosive epidemic, caused by the gastrointestinal anaerobic protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica, infects the large intestine and, in advance stages, liver, kidney, brain and lung. Metronidazole (MNZ)-the first line medicament against amoebiasis-is potentially carcinogenic to humans and shows significant side-effects. Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine compounds have been reported to demonstrate antiamoebic activity. In silico molecular docking simulations on nine pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine molecules without linkers (molecules 1-9) and nine pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine molecules with a trimethylene linker (molecules 10-18) along with the reference drug metronidazole (MNZ) were conducted using the modules of the programs Glide-SP, Glide-XP and Autodock with O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase (OASS) enzyme-a promising target for inhibiting the growth of Entamoeba histolytica. Docking simulations using Glide-SP demonstrate good agreement with reported biological activities of molecules 1-9 and indicate that molecules 2 and 4 may act as potential high affinity inhibitors. Trimethylene linker molecules show improved binding affinities among which molecules 15 and 16 supersede. MD simulations on the best docked poses of molecules 2, 4, 15, 16 and MNZ were carried out for 20 ns using DESMOND. It was observed that the docking complexes of molecules 4, 15 and MNZ remain stable in aqueous conditions and do not undergo noticeable fluctuations during the course of the dynamics. Relative binding free energy calculations of the ligands with the enzyme were executed on the best docked poses using the molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) approach, which show good agreement with the reported biological activities.