Static and Dynamic Properties of Fluorinated 4-Aryl-1,5-Benzodiazepinones

1,5-Benzodiazepin-2(3H)-ones: In Vitro Evaluation as Antiparkinsonian Agents

A new series of twenty-three 1,5-benzodiazepin-2(3H)-ones were synthesized and evaluated in the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays as a new chemotype with antioxidant and good drug-like properties. All of the derivatives showed low cytotoxicity in comparison to curcumin against the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and the human hepatoma HepG2 cell lines. Experimental solubility in bio-relevant media showed a good relationship with melting points in this series. Five compounds with the best antioxidant properties showed neuroprotectant activity against H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in the SH-SY5Y cell line. From them, derivatives 4-phenyl-1H-1,5-benzodiazepin-2(3H)-one (18) and 4-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-1H-1,5-benzodiazepin-2(3H)-one (20) yielded good neuroprotection activity in the same neuronal cell line under 6-OHD and MPP⁺ insults as in vitro models of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Both compounds also demonstrated a significant reduction of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and superoxide levels, in parallel with a good improvement of the Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (ΔΨm). Compared with curcumin, compound 18 better reduced lipid peroxidation levels, malondialdehyde (MDA), in SH-SY5Y cells under oxidative stress pressure and recovered intracellular glutathione synthetase (GSH) levels. Apoptosis and caspase-3 levels of SH-SY5Y under H₂O₂ pressure were also reduced after treatment with 18. Neuroprotection in neuron-like differentiated SH-SY5Y cells was also achieved with 18. In summary, this family of 1,5-benzodiazepin-2-ones with an interesting antioxidant and drug-like profile, with low cytotoxic and good neuroprotectant activity, constitutes a new promising chemical class with high potential for the development of new therapeutic agents against PD.

Regiospecific Synthesis and Structural Studies of 3,5-Dihydro-4H-pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepin-4-ones and Comparison with 1,3-Dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]diazepin-2-ones

Nine 3,5-dihydro-4H-pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepin-4-ones (17-25), some of which contain fluoro-substituents, have been regiospecifically prepared by reaction of 2,3-diaminopyridines with ethyl aroylacetates. In two cases, open intermediates have been isolated and these are related to the reaction pathway. The X-ray crystal structure of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepin-4-one (23) has been solved (formula, C₁₅H₁₃N₃O; crystal system, monoclinic; space group, C2/c). This is an asymmetric unit constituted by a single nonplanar molecule and its conformational enantiomer due to the presence of the seven-membered diazepin-2-one moiety, which introduces a certain degree of torsion in the adjacent pyridine ring. The ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, and ¹⁹F NMR spectra were obtained and the chemical shifts, together with those of the previously published 1,3-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]diazepin-2-ones (1-16), i.e., a total of 544 values, were successfully compared with the chemical shifts calculated at the gauge invariant atomic orbital (GIAO)/Becke, three-parameter, Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP)/6-311++G(d,p) level. The seven-membered ring inversion barrier in 5-benzyl-2-phenyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepin-4-one (25) was determined and, in conjunction with the data from the literature, compared with the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) computed values. This allowed the determination of several structural effects. The rotation about the exocyclic N1-CR bond was also calculated and its dynamic properties were discussed.

A Benefit of Using the IDSCRF- over UFF-Radii Cavities and Why Joint Correlations of NMR Chemical Shifts Can Be Advantageous: Condensed Pyridines as an IEF-PCM/GIAO/DFT Case Study

Herein, an advantage of the use of IDSCRF- over UFF-radii-based solute cavities in GIAO/DFT calculations is presented for the ¹³C and especially ¹⁵N NMR chemical shifts made for several bicyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles in CDCl₃ solution treated within the classical IEF-PCM solvation scheme. Successful application of the IDSCRF-radii in the non 1:1 joint multinuclear ¹H/¹³C and particularly ¹H/¹³C/¹⁵N correlations of the measured δ_H,C(,N) values to those obtained theoretically is also documented for a series of test systems (-268 ≤ δ_N ≤ -72 ppm). The experimentally yet unknown δ_N's were found in this way for the title compounds via a trinuclear eq 1 determined for an optimally chosen value of the multiplication factor of initial raw δ_H data (m_H = 10). Such a simultaneous analysis of the δ_H,C(,N) data is proposed as a novel method to study the solution structure of the other similar conformationally homogeneous (bio)organic compounds. The issue of small spurious imaginary vibrational frequencies computed for a few molecular systems using the Gaussian 09 default UFF-radii is briefly considered as well.