Novel benzimidazole derivatives; synthesis, bioactivity and molecular docking study as potent urease inhibitors

The Synthesis, In Vitro Bio-Evaluation, and In Silico Molecular Docking Studies of Pyrazoline-Thiazole Hybrid Analogues as Promising Anti-α-Glucosidase and Anti-Urease Agents

In the present work, a concise library of benzothiazole-derived pyrazoline-based thiazole (1-17) was designed and synthesized by employing a multistep reaction strategy. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for their α-glucosidase and urease inhibitory activities. The scaffolds (1-17) were characterized using a combination of several spectroscopic techniques, including FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and EI-MS. The majority of the synthesized compounds demonstrated a notable potency against α-glucosidase and urease enzymes. These analogues disclosed varying degrees of α-glucosidase and urease inhibitory activities, with their IC50 values ranging from 2.50 to 17.50 μM (α-glucosidase) and 14.30 to 41.50 (urease). Compounds 6, 7, 14, and 12, with IC50 values of 2.50, 3.20, 3.40, and 3.50 μM as compared to standard acarbose (IC50 = 5.30 µM), while the same compounds showed 14.30, 19.20, 21.80, and 22.30 comparable with thiourea (IC50 = 31.40 μM), respectively, showed excellent inhibitory activity. The structure-activity relationship revealed that the size and electron-donating or electron-withdrawing effects of substituents influenced the enzymatic activities such as α-glucosidase and urease. Compound 6 was a dual potent inhibitor against α-glucosidase and urease due to the presence of -CF3 electron-withdrawing functionality on the phenyl ring. To the best of our knowledge, these synthetic compounds were found to be the most potent dual inhibitors of α-glucosidase and urease with minimum IC50 values. Moreover, in silico studies on most active compounds, i.e., 6, 7, 14, and 12, were also performed to understand the binding interaction of most active compounds with active sites of α-glucosidase and urease enzymes.

Exploring the Synthetic Chemistry of Phenyl-3-(5-aryl-2-furyl)- 2-propen-1-ones as Urease Inhibitors: Mechanistic Approach through Urease Inhibition, Molecular Docking and Structure-Activity Relationship

Furan chalcone scaffolds belong to the most privileged and promising oxygen-containing heterocyclic class of compounds, which have a wide spectrum of therapeutic applications in the field of pharmaceutics, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry. This research described the synthesis of a series of twelve novel and seven reported furan chalcone (conventional synthetic approach) analogues 4a-s through the application of microwave-assisted synthetic methodology and evaluated for therapeutic inhibition potential against bacterial urease enzyme. In the first step, a series of nineteen substituted 5-aryl-2-furan-2-carbaldehyde derivatives 3a-s were achieved in moderate to good yields (40-70%). These substituted 5-aryl-2-furan-2-carbaldehyde derivatives 3a-s were condensed with acetophenone via Claisen-Schmidt condensation to furnish 19 substituted furan chalcone scaffolds 4a-s in excellent yields (85-92%) in microwave-assisted synthetic approach, while in conventional methodology, these furan chalcone 4a-s were furnished in good yield (65-90%). Furan chalcone structural motifs 4a-s were characterized through elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques. These nineteen (19)-afforded furan chalcones 4a-s were screened for urease inhibitory chemotherapeutic efficacy and most of the furan chalcones displayed promising urease inhibition activity. The most active urease inhibitors were 1-phenyl-3-[5-(2',5'-dichlorophenyl)-2-furyl]-2-propen-1-one 4h with an IC50 value of 16.13 ± 2.45 μM, and 1-phenyl- 3-[5-(2'-chlorophenyl)-2-furyl] -2-propen-1-one 4s with an IC50 value of 18.75 ± 0.85 μM in comparison with reference drug thiourea (IC50 = 21.25 ± 0.15 μM). These furan chalcone derivatives 4h and 4s are more efficient urease inhibitors than reference drug thiourea. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) revealed that the 2,5-dichloro 4h and 2-chloro 4s moiety containing furan chalcone derivatives may be considered as potential lead reagents for urease inhibition. The in silico molecular docking study results are in agreement with the experimental biological findings. The results of this study may be helpful in the future drug discovery and designing of novel efficient urease inhibitory agents from this biologically active class of furan chalcones.