Synthesis of phenylpiperazine derivatives of 1,4-benzodioxan as selective COX-2 inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents

Recent development on COX-2 inhibitors as promising anti-inflammatory agents: The past 10 years

Cyclooxygenases play a vital role in inflammation and are responsible for the production of prostaglandins. Two cyclooxygenases are described, the constitutive cyclooxygenase-1 and the inducible cyclooxygenase-2, for which the target inhibitors are the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Prostaglandins are a class of lipid compounds that mediate acute and chronic inflammation. NSAIDs are the most frequent choices for treatment of inflammation. Nevertheless, currently used anti-inflammatory drugs have become associated with a variety of adverse effects which lead to diminished output even market withdrawal. Recently, more studies have been carried out on searching novel selective COX-2 inhibitors with safety profiles. In this review, we highlight the various structural classes of organic and natural scaffolds with efficient COX-2 inhibitory activity reported during 2011–2021. It will be valuable for pharmaceutical scientists to read up on the current chemicals to pave the way for subsequent research.

1,4-Benzodioxane, an evergreen, versatile scaffold in medicinal chemistry: A review of its recent applications in drug design

1,4-Benzodioxane has long been a versatile template widely employed to design molecules endowed with diverse bioactivities. Its use spans the last decades of medicinal chemistry until today concerning many strategies of drug discovery, not excluding the most advanced ones. Here, more than fifty benzodioxane-related lead compounds, selected from recent literature, are presented showing the different approaches with which they have been developed. Agonists and antagonists at neuronal nicotinic, α₁ adrenergic and serotoninergic receptor subtypes and antitumor and antibacterial agents form the most representative classes, but a variety of other biological targets are addressed by benzodioxane-containing compounds.

Dihydropyrazole Derivatives Containing Benzo Oxygen Heterocycle and Sulfonamide Moieties Selectively and Potently Inhibit COX-2: Design, Synthesis, and Anti-Colon Cancer Activity Evaluation

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) as a rate-limiting metabolism enzyme of arachidonic acid has been found to be implicated in tumor occurrence, angiogenesis, metastasis as well as apoptosis inhibition, regarded as an attractive therapeutic target for cancer therapy. In our research, a series of dihydropyrazole derivatives containing benzo oxygen heterocycle and sulfonamide moieties were designed as highly potent and selective COX-2 inhibitors by computer-aided drug analysis of known COX-2 inhibitors. A total of 26 compounds were synthesized and evaluated COX-2 inhibition and pharmacological efficiency both in vitro and in vivo with multi-angle of view. Among them, compound 4b exhibited most excellent anti-proliferation activities against SW620 cells with IC₅₀ of 0.86 ± 0.02 µM than Celecoxib (IC₅₀ = 1.29 ± 0.04 µM). The results favored our rational design intention and provides compound 4b as an effective COX-2 inhibitor available for the development of colon tumor therapeutics.