Phosphodiesterase inhibitors. Part 4: Design, synthesis and structure-activity relationships of dual PDE3/4-inhibitory fused bicyclic heteroaromatic-4,4-dimethylpyrazolones

PDE4 Inhibitors: Profiling Hits through the Multitude of Structural Classes

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases 4 (PDE4) are a family of enzymes which specifically promote the hydrolysis and degradation of cAMP. The inhibition of PDE4 enzymes has been widely investigated as a possible alternative strategy for the treatment of a variety of respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, as well as psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders. In this context, the identification of new molecules as PDE4 inhibitors continues to be an active field of investigation within drug discovery. This review summarizes the medicinal chemistry journey in the design and development of effective PDE4 inhibitors, analyzed through chemical classes and taking into consideration structural aspects and binding properties, as well as inhibitory efficacy, PDE4 selectivity and the potential as therapeutic agents.

Advances in the development of phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors

Phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) hydrolyzes cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and plays a vital roles in many biological processes. PDE4 inhibitors have been widely studied as therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and psoriasis. Many PDE4 inhibitors have progressed to clinical trials and some have been approved as therapeutic drugs. Although many PDE4 inhibitors have been approved to enter clinical trials, however, the development of PDE4 inhibitors for the treatment of COPD or psoriasis has been hampered by their side effects of emesis. Herein, this review summarizes advances in the development of PDE4 inhibitors over the last ten years, focusing on PDE4 sub-family selectivity, dual target drugs, and therapeutic potential. Hopefully, this review will contribute to the development of novel PDE4 inhibitors as potential drugs.

Modular Access to 2-(Trifluoromethyl)pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridines and Their Benzo Analogues through a Copper(I)-Catalyzed Radical Annulation

A mechanistically distinctive copper-catalyzed radical annulation to valuable 2-(trifluoromethyl)pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyridines and their benzo analogues has been described for the first time. Notably, the newly developed complementary process allows the synthesis of 4- or 6-substituted target molecular entities as a single product, which was previously challenging to access by existing methods. The utility of this process is further demonstrated by the facile construction of four different ring systems, a gram-scale synthesis, and the late-stage functionalization of bioactive molecules.

Pyrazolone-type compounds: synthesis and in silico assessment of antiviral potential against key viral proteins of SARS-CoV-2

Coronavirus outbreak is still a major public health concern. The high mutation ability of SARS-CoV-2 periodically delivers more transmissible and dangerous variants. Hence, the necessity for an efficient and inexpensive antiviral agent is urgent. In this work, pyrazolone-type compounds were synthesised, characterised using spectroscopic methods and theoretical tools, and evaluated in silico against proteins of SARS-CoV-2 responsible for host cell entry and reproduction processes, i.e., spike protein (S), M^pro, and PL_pro. Five of twenty compounds are newly synthesised. In addition, the crystal structure of a pyrazolone derivative bearing a vanillin moiety is determined. The obtained in silico results indicate a more favourable binding affinity of pyrazolone analogues towards M^pro, and PL_pro in comparison to drugs lopinavir, remdesivir, chloroquine, and favipiravir, while in the case of S protein only lopinavir exerted higher binding affinity. Also, the investigations were performed on ACE2 and the spike RBD-ACE2 complex. The obtained results for these proteins suggest that selected compounds could express antiviral properties by blocking the binding to the host cell and viral spreading, also. Moreover, several derivatives expressed multitarget antiviral action, blocking both binding and reproduction processes. Additionally, in silico ADME/T calculations predicted favourable features of the synthesised compounds, i.e., drug-likeness, oral bioavailability, as well as good pharmacokinetic parameters related to absorption, metabolism, and toxicity. The obtained results imply the great potential of synthesised pyrazolones as multitarget agents against SARS-CoV-2 and represent a valuable background for further in vitro investigations.

Coronavirus outbreak is still a major public health concern.

The long and winding road of designing phosphodiesterase inhibitors for the treatment of heart failure

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are a superfamily of enzymes known to play a critical role in the indirect regulation of several intracellular metabolism pathways through the selective hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bonds of specific second messenger substrates such as cAMP (3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate) and cGMP (3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate), influencing the hypertrophy, contractility, apoptosis and fibroses in the cardiovascular system. The expression and/or activity of multiple PDEs is altered during heart failure (HF), which leads to changes in levels of cyclic nucleotides and function of cardiac muscle. Within the cardiovascular system, PDEs 1-5, 8 and 9 are expressed and are interesting targets for the HF treatment. In this comprehensive review we will present a briefly description of the biochemical importance of each cardiovascular related PDE to the HF, and cover almost all the "long and winding road" of designing and discovering ligands, hits, lead compounds, clinical candidates and drugs as PDE inhibitors in the last decade.

Advances in the Development of Phosphodiesterase-4 Inhibitors

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) specifically hydrolyzes cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and plays vital roles in biological processes such as cancer development. To date, PDE4 inhibitors have been widely studied as therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and many of them have progressed to clinical trials or have been approved as drugs. Herein, we review the advances in the development of PDE4 inhibitors in the past decade and will focus on their pharmacophores, PDE4 subfamily selectivity, and therapeutic potential. Hopefully, this analysis will lead to a strategy for development of novel therapeutics targeting PDE4.

Pyrazolone structural motif in medicinal chemistry: Retrospect and prospect

The pyrazolone structural motif is a critical element of drugs aimed at different biological end-points. Medicinal chemistry researches have synthesized drug-like pyrazolone candidates with several medicinal features including antimicrobial, antitumor, CNS (central nervous system) effect, anti-inflammatory activities and so on. Meanwhile, SAR (Structure-Activity Relationship) investigations have drawn attentions among medicinal chemists, along with a plenty of analogues have been derived for multiple targets. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the biological activity and SAR for pyrazolone analogues, wishing to give an overall retrospect and prospect on the pyrazolone derivatives.

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The pyrazolone structural motif is a critical element of drugs aimed at different biological end-points.

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The pyrazolone analogues have been carried out to drug-like candidates with broad range of medicinal properties.

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This review wishes to give an overall retrospect and prospect on the pyrazolone derivatives.

Optimization of PDE3A Modulators for SLFN12-Dependent Cancer Cell Killing

6-(4-(Diethylamino)-3-nitrophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydropyridazin-3(2H)-one, or DNMDP, potently and selectively inhibits phosphodiesterases 3A and 3B (PDE3A and PDE3B) and kills cancer cells by inducing PDE3A/B interactions with SFLN12. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) of DNMDP analogs was evaluated using a phenotypic viability assay, resulting in several compounds with suitable pharmacokinetic properties for in vivo analysis. One of these compounds, BRD9500, was active in an SK-MEL-3 xenograft model of cancer.

Identification of novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitors designed by pharmacophore-based virtual screening, molecular docking and bioassay

In this study, pharmacophore based 3D QSAR models for human acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors were generated, with good significance, statistical values (r2training = 0.73) and predictability (q2training = 0.67). It was further validated by three methods (Fischer's test, decoy set and Güner-Henry scoring method) to show that the models can be used to predict the biological activities of compounds without costly and time-consuming synthesis. The criteria for virtual screening were also validated by testing the selective AChE inhibitors. Virtual screening experiments and subsequent in vitro evaluation of promising hits revealed a novel and selective AChE inhibitor. Thus, the findings reported herein may provide a new strategy for the discovery of selective AChE inhibitors. The IC50 value of compounds 5c and 6a presented selective inhibition of AChE without inhibiting butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) at uM level. Molecular docking studies were performed to explain the potent AChE inhibition of the target compounds studies to explain high affinity.

An isothiourea-catalyzed asymmetric formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition of in situ generated azoalkenes with C1 ammonium enolates

An efficient isothiourea-catalyzed stereoselective formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition of α-chloro cyclic hydrazones with carboxylic acids has been developed.

Docking and quantitative structure-activity relationship of bi-cyclic heteroaromatic pyridazinone and pyrazolone derivatives as phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A) inhibitors

PDE3s belong to the phosphodiesterases family, where the PDE3A isoform is the major subtype in platelets involved in the cAMP regulation pathway of platelet aggregation. PDE3A inhibitors have been designed as potential antiplatelet agents. In this work, a homology model of PDE3A was developed and used to obtain the binding modes of bicyclic heteroaromatic pyridazinones and pyrazolones. Most of the studied compounds adopted similar orientations within the PDE3A active site, establishing hydrogen bonds with catalytic amino acids. Besides, the structure-activity relationship of the studied inhibitors was described by using a field-based 3D-QSAR method. Different structure alignment strategies were employed, including template-based and docking-based alignments. Adequate correlation models were obtained according to internal and external validations. In general, QSAR models revealed that steric and hydrophobic fields describe the different inhibitory activities of the compounds, where the hydrogen bond donor and acceptor fields have minor contributions. It should be stressed that structural elements of PDE3A inhibitors are reported here, through descriptions of their binding interactions and their differential affinities. In this sense, the present results could be useful in the future design of more specific and potent PDE3A inhibitors that may be used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Pyridazinone: an attractive lead for anti-inflammatory and analgesic drug discovery

In spite of the availability of a large number of anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents, fighting pain and inflammation remains a common problem. The current review article discusses the need of novel therapeutic targets for risk-free anti-inflammatory and analgesic therapy and summarizes some new agents in various stages of drug discovery pipeline. Pyridazin-3(2H)-ones are nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds of considerable medicinal interest due to their diverse biological activities. The current review article focuses on progressive development of this attractive scaffold for the design and synthesis of new pyridazinone-based anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents. Mechanistic insights into the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of pyridazinone derivatives and various synthetic techniques used for their synthesis are also described.

Pharmacophore modeling, 3D-QSAR and docking study of 2-phenylpyrimidine analogues as selective PDE4B inhibitors

Pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies have been performed, to explore the putative binding modes of 2-phenylpyrimidine series as PDE4B selective inhibitors. A five point pharmacophore model was developed using 87 molecules having pIC50 ranging from 8.52 to 5.07. The pharmacophore hypothesis yielded a statistically significant 3D-QSAR model, with a high correlation coefficient (R(2)=0.918), cross validation coefficient (Q(2)=0.852), and F value (175) at 4 component PLS factor. The external validation indicated that our QSAR model possessed high predictive power (R(2)=0.70). The generated model was further validated by enrichment studies using the decoy test. To evaluate the effectiveness of docking protocol in flexible docking, we have selected crystallographic bound compound to validate our docking procedure as evident from root mean square deviation. A 10ns molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the docking results of both stability of the 1XMU-ligand complex and the presumed active conformation. Further, similar orientation was observed between the superposition of the conformations of 85 after MD simulation and best XP-docking pose; MD simulation and 3D-QSAR pose; best XP-docking and 3D-QSAR poses. Outcomes of the present study provide insight in designing novel molecules with better PDE4B selective inhibitory activity.

Progress of the synthesis of condensed pyrazole derivatives (from 2010 to mid-2013)

Condensed pyrazole derivatives are important heterocyclic compounds due to their excellent biological activities and have been widely applied in pharmaceutical and agromedical fields. In recent years, numerous condensed pyrazole derivatives have been synthesized and advanced to clinic studies with various biological activities. In this review, we summarized the reported synthesis methods of condensed pyrazole derivatives from 2010 until now. All compounds are divided into three parts according to the rings connected to pyrazole-ring, i.e. [5, 5], [5,F 6], and [5, 7]-condensed pyrazole derivatives. The biological activities and applications in pharmaceutical fields are briefly introduced to offer an orientation for the design and synthesis of condensed pyrazole derivatives with good biological activities.