Synthesis and antiviral activity of bis-spirocyclic derivatives of rhodanine

Rhodanine derivatives: An insight into the synthetic and medicinal perspectives as antimicrobial and antiviral agents

Rhodanine or 2-Thioxothiazolidin-4-one is a privileged heterocyclic compound offering a wide opportunity for structural modification, lead development, and modification. It is one of the highly decorated scaffolds in the drug discovery process. Rhodanine derivatives possess a plethora of biological activities due to their ability to interact with a diverse range of protein targets, which provide tremendous opportunities to discover new drugs with different modes of action. The most common strategy for developing novel rhodanine derivatives is the introduction of structurally diverse substituents at the C-5 or N-3, or both positions. Since the inception of Epralestat into the market in 1992, the exploration of rhodanine-3-acetic acids has led to the development of novel leads against different biological targets such as MRSA, HHV-6, Mycobacterial tuberculosis, dengue, etc. In the current pandemic era, some rhodanine compounds have been explored against SARS-CoV-2. In recent years, rhodanine and its derivatives have witnessed significant progress in developing new drug leads as potential antimicrobial and antiviral agents. Different synthetic methodologies and recent developments in the medicinal chemistry of rhodanine derivatives, including biological activities, their mechanistic aspects, structure-activity relationships, and in silico findings, have been compiled in the present review. This article will benefit the scientific community and offer perspectives on how these scaffolds as privileged structures might be exploited in the future for rational design and discovery of rhodanine-based bio-active molecules.

Isatin derivatives as broad-spectrum antiviral agents: the current landscape

In recent decades, several viruses have resulted in large outbreaks with serious health, economic and social consequences. The current unprecedented outbreak of the new coronavirus, SARS-COV-2, necessitates intensive efforts for delivering effective therapies to eradicate such a deadly virus. Isatin is an opulent heterocycle that has been proven to provide tremendous opportunities in the area of drug discovery. Over the last fifty years, suitably functionalized isatin has shown remarkable and broad-spectrum antiviral properties. The review herein is an attempt to compile all of the reported information about the antiviral activity of isatin derivatives with an emphasis on their structure-activity relationships (SARs) along with mechanistic and molecular modeling studies. In this regard, we are confident that the review will afford the scientific community a valuable platform to generate more potent and cost-effective antiviral therapies based on isatin templates.

The Importance of Rhodanine Scaffold in Medicinal Chemistry: A Comprehensive Overview

After the clinical use of epalrestat that contains a rhodanine ring, in type II diabetes mellitus and diabetic complications, rhodanin-based compounds have become an important class of heterocyclic in the field of medicinal chemistry. Various modifications to the rhodanine ring have led to a broad spectrum of biological activity of these compounds. Synthesis of rhodanine derivatives, depended on advenced throughput scanning hits, frequently causes potent and selective modulators of targeted enzymes or receptors, which apply their pharmacological activities through different mechanisms of action. Rhodanine-based compounds will likely stay a privileged scaffold in drug discovery because of different probability of chemical modifications of the rhodanine ring. We have, therefore reviewed their biological activities and structure activity relationship.

Synthesis, antidiabetic activity and molecular docking study of rhodanine-substitued spirooxindole pyrrolidine derivatives as novel α-amylase inhibitors

In a sustained search for novel α-amylase inhibitors for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we report herein the synthesis of a series of nineteen novel rhodanine-fused spiro[pyrrolidine-2,3'-oxindoles]. They were obtained by one-pot three component [3 + 2] cycloaddition of stabilized azomethine ylides, generated in situ by condensation of glycine methyl ester and the cyclic ketones 1H-indole-2,3-dione (isatin), with (Z)-5-arylidine-2-thioxothiazolidin-4-ones. The highlight of this protocol is the efficient high-yield construction of structurally diverse rhodanine-fused spiro[pyrrolidine-2,3'-oxindoles] scaffolds, including four contiguous stereocenters, along with excellent regio- and diastereoselectivities. The stereochemistry of all compounds was confirmed by NMR and corroborated by an X-ray diffraction study performed on one derivative. All cycloadducts were evaluated in vitro for their α-amylase inhibitory activity and showed good α-amylase inhibition with IC₅₀ values ranging between 1.49 ± 0.10 and 3.06 ± 0.17 µM, with respect to the control drug acarbose (IC₅₀ = 1.56 µM). Structural activity relationships (SARs) were also established for all synthesized compounds and the binding interactions of the most active spiropyrrolidine derivatives were modelledby means of molecular insilico docking studies. The most potent compounds 5 g, 5 k, 5 s and 5 l were further screened in vivo for their hypoglycemic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, showing a reduction of the blood glucose level. Therefore, these spiropyrrolidine derivatives may be considered as promising candidates for the development of new classes of antidiabetic drugs.

An organocatalytic domino Michael addition strategy: construction of bispiro[oxindole-thiazolidinone-hexahydroxanthone]s with five contiguous stereocenters

An efficient squaramide-catalyzed domino Michael addition for the stereoselective synthesis of bispiro[oxindole-thiazolidinone-hexahydroxanthone]s in good to excellent yields with excellent stereoselectivities was developed.

Quantum molecular modeling of hepatitis C virus inhibition through non-structural protein 5B polymerase receptor binding of C5-arylidene rhodanines

We have carried out high-level quantum chemical computations followed by molecular docking studies on a set of 17C₅-arylidene rhodanine isomers to provide insights into the binding modes with different reported binding pockets of the nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) polymerase that contribute to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) inhibition. We optimized the multi-target profile of the selected rhodanine analogs to investigate potential non-nucleotide inhibitors (NNIs) by quantum chemical optimization of the 18 isomers followed by docking with quantum chemically optimized structures of each isomer with NS5B polymerase at multiple binding pockets. The binding affinities of the PP-I, PP-II and TP-II pockets of NS5B polymerase were analyzed for all the 17 isomers of 2-[(5Z)-5-(2,4-dichlorobenzylidene)-4-oxo-2-thioxo-1,3-thiazolidin-3-yl]-3-phenylpropanoic acid. On the basis of binding propensity at the different pockets and inhibitor constants, we ranked these isomers as potential candidates for the HCV inhibition. We have identified four isomers as promising NNIs of NS5B polymerase with comparable binding and inhibition to the standard (1,3) dichloro substituted isomer that exhibits in vitro activity and several other isomers as candidates in a "multi-targeted drug" approach.

Testing the ability of rhodanine and 2, 4-thiazolidinedione to interact with the human pancreatic alpha-amylase: electron-density descriptors complement molecular docking, QM, and QM/MM dynamics calculations

A combined molecular docking, QM, and QM/MM dynamics modeling complemented with electron-density based descriptors computed at the B3LYP/6-311G++(d,p) level of theory have been carried out in order to understand the ability of the drugs rhodanine (RD) and 2,4-thiazolidinedione (TZD) in the effective treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The global HOMO/LUMO descriptors provided just a very rough estimate of the chemical reactivity of both molecules, while the features of electron density studied in terms of its Laplacian and electrostatic potential allowed identifying the local electron rich/poor sites which were associated with the regions of electrophilic/nucleophilic attacks in RD and TZD. These results were thoroughly checked using the novel physically-grounded functional descriptors such as the phase-space Fisher information density and the internal kinetic electronic pressure density, which confirmed the information on bonding and lone electron pair details. The molecular docking, QM, and QM/MM dynamics analyses revealed the detailed picture of interactions of the drugs with the amino acid residues of the active site of the human pancreatic alpha-amylase protein (hPAA). The main difference in behavior of RD and TZD molecules is related to the hydrogen bond between the NH group of the ligand and Asp197. In hPAA complex with RD the proton from the NH group, which carries large positive charge (~ +0.45 e), spontaneously transfers to the carboxyl group of Asp197 and stays there, while in complex with TZD this proton frequently changes its position with the more preferable formation of covalent bond with the N atom. Upon deprotonation of the ligand, its hydrogen bonds with Arg195 and His299 become stronger. This process influences the binding with the difference of the binding constants of RD and TZD about 200 times with the higher value corresponding to the RD molecule. Thus, the cumulative results lead to the conclusion that rhodanine would have a higher binding affinity than the 2,4-thiazolidinedione molecule in the active site of human pancreatic alpha-amylase.

An effective one-pot access to polynuclear dispiroheterocyclic structures comprising pyrrolidinyloxindole and imidazothiazolotriazine moieties via a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition strategy

An effective and highly regio- and diastereoselective one-pot method for the synthesis of new polynuclear dispiroheterocyclic systems with five stereogenic centers (dispiro[imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[3,2-b]-1,2,4-triazine-6,3'-pyrrolidine-2',3''-indoles]) comprising pyrrolidinyloxindole and imidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[3,2-b]-1,2,4-triazine moieties has been developed. The method relies on a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides generated in situ from isatin derivatives and sarcosine to 6-benzylideneimidazo[4,5-e]thiazolo[3,2-b]-1,2,4-triazine-2,7-diones.

Therapeutic Potential of Spirooxindoles as Antiviral Agents

Antiviral therapeutics with profiles of high potency, low resistance, panserotype, and low toxicity remain challenging, and obtaining such agents continues to be an active area of therapeutic development. Due to their unique three-dimensional structural features, spirooxindoles have been identified as privileged chemotypes for antiviral drug development. Among them, spiro-pyrazolopyridone oxindoles have been recently reported as potent inhibitors of dengue virus NS4B, leading to the discovery of an orally bioavailable preclinical candidate (R)-44 with excellent in vivo efficacy in a dengue viremia mouse model. This review highlights recent advances in the development of biologically active spirooxindoles for their antiviral potential, primarily focusing on the structure-activity relationships (SARs) and modes of action, as well as future directions to achieve more potent analogues toward a viable antiviral therapy.