Molecular Docking Assessment of Cathinones as 5-HT2AR Ligands: Developing of Predictive Structure-Based Bioactive Conformations and Three-Dimensional Structure-Activity Relationships Models for Future Recognition of Abuse Drugs

Commercially available cathinones are drugs of long-term abuse drugs whose pharmacology is fairly well understood. While their psychedelic effects are associated with 5-HT2AR, the enclosed study summarizes efforts to shed light on the pharmacodynamic profiles, not yet known at the receptor level, using molecular docking and three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3-D QSAR) studies. The bioactive conformations of cathinones were modeled by AutoDock Vina and were used to build structure-based (SB) 3-D QSAR models using the Open3DQSAR engine. Graphical inspection of the results led to the depiction of a 3-D structure analysis-activity relationship (SAR) scheme that could be used as a guideline for molecular determinants by which any untested cathinone molecule can be predicted as a potential 5-HT2AR binder prior to experimental evaluation. The obtained models, which showed a good agreement with the chemical properties of co-crystallized 5-HT2AR ligands, proved to be valuable for future virtual screening campaigns to recognize unused cathinones and similar compounds, such as 5-HT2AR ligands, minimizing both time and financial resources for the characterization of their psychedelic effects.

DFT calculations as an efficient tool for prediction of Raman and infra-red spectra and activities of newly synthesized cathinones

Initially made for medical treatment for Parkinsonism, obesity, and depression, cathinones have become illegal drugs for the “recreational use”. The mechanism of action of synthetic cathinones consists of the inhibition of monoamine transporters. DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations on the selected cathinones (3-FMC, 4-FMC, 4-MMC, Buphedrone, Butylone, Ethylone, MDPV, Methcathinone, and Methylone) were performed using B3LYP level of the Gaussian 09 program suite. The unscaled B3LYP/6–31G vibrational wavenumbers are in general larger than the experimental values, so the use of selective scaling was necessary. The calculated spectra of selected cathinones are in good correlation with the experimental spectra which demonstrates that DFT is a good tool for the prediction of spectra of newly synthesized and insufficiently experimentally characterised cathinones. Also, HOMO-LUMO (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital-Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital) analysis shows that 3-FMC possesses the minimum energy gap of 3.386 eV, and the molecule 4-FMC possesses the maximum energy gap of 4.205 eV among the investigated cathinones. It indicates that 3-FMC would be highly reactive among all the cathinones under investigation.