Novel Benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-
a]pyrimidine derivatives as selective Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitors: Design, synthesis, docking studies, and biological evaluation.
Med Chem Res 2023;
32:495-505. [PMID:
36713891 PMCID:
PMC9870662 DOI:
10.1007/s00044-023-03022-0]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
The present study was aimed at the synthesis and evaluation of a new series of benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine having a methylsulfonyl group as COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) inhibitor pharmacophore. Molecular modeling studies were performed using the Autodock program, and the results demonstrated that methylsulfonyl pharmacophore was adequately placed into the COX-2 active site. The in vitro and in vivo COX-2 inhibitory effects were also evaluated. In the in vitro assay, all newly synthesized compounds showed moderate to good selectivity for the inhibition of the COX-2 enzyme. However, compound 2-(4-(methylsulfonyl) phenyl)-4-phenylbenzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine (5a) showed the highest COX-2 inhibitory effect (IC50: 0.05 μM) even more than celecoxib as the reference drug (IC50: 0.06 μM). For the in vivo study, the writing reflex test was used, and the results indicated that all synthesized compounds had well dose-dependent anti-nociceptive activity. The in vivo evaluation also showed that compound 2-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)-4-(p-tolyl)benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine (5d) had the highest activity in the writing reflex test (ED50: 5.75 mg/kg). In addition, the cytotoxicity effects of the synthesized compounds were tested on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and all compounds showed considerable inhibitory results.
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