Synthesis and Molecular Docking Studies of Potent Urease Inhibitors Based on Benzoxazole Scaffold

Synthesis of quinazolinone derivatives containing an acyl hydrazone skeleton as potent anti-urease agents enzyme kinetic studies and anti-oxidant properties

This paper covers the synthesis, in vitro urease inhibition, enzyme kinetic parameters, and anti-oxidant studies of a novel series of quinazolinone derivatives containing an acyl hydrazone skeleton. Compounds 3a, 3b, 5a, and 5b, having IC50 values ranging from 1.86 ± 0.07 to 6.38 ± 0.11 µg mL−1, show greater inhibitory activity than the standard inhibitor, thiourea. Among the products, (2-[2-(3-methoxybenzyl)-4-oxoquinazolin-3(4 H)-yl]acetohydrazide) proves to be the most potent, exhibiting enzyme inhibition activity with an IC50 value of 1.86 ± 0.07 µg mL−1. Kinetic studies involving the Lineweaver–Burk plots reveal that the inhibition mechanism of the most active compounds (3a, 3b, 5a, and 5b) on urease activity are found to be in competitive mode. Also, the anti-oxidant activity and radical-scavenging properties of the synthesized compounds are evaluated using cupric reducing anti-oxidant activity, ferric reducing anti-oxidant capacity, 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assays. Compounds 3a, b and 5a, b have good anti-oxidant properties and radical-scavenging activity at various final concentrations.

Synthesis and Evaluation of 1,3,5-Triaryl-2-Pyrazoline Derivatives as Potent Dual Inhibitors of Urease and α-Glucosidase Together with Their Cytotoxic, Molecular Modeling and Drug-Likeness Studies

In the present work, a concise library of 1,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines (2a-2q) was designed and synthesized by employing a multistep strategy, and the newly synthesized compounds were screened for their urease and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. The compounds (2a-2q) were characterized using a combination of several spectroscopic techniques including FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and EI-MS. All the synthesized compounds, except compound 2i, were potent against urease as compared to the standard inhibitor thiourea (IC₅₀ = 21.37 ± 0.26 μM). These analogs disclosed varying degrees of urease inhibitory activities ranging from 9.13 ± 0.25 to 18.42 ± 0.42 μM. Compounds 2b, 2g, 2m, and 2q having IC₅₀ values of 9.36 ± 0.27, 9.13 ± 0.25, 9.18 ± 0.35, and 9.35 ± 0.35 μM, respectively, showed excellent inhibitory activity as compared to standard thiourea (IC₅₀ = 21.37 ± 0.26 μM). A kinetic study of compound 2g revealed that compound 2g inhibited urease in a competitive mode. Among the synthesized pyrazolines, the compounds 2c, 2k, 2m, and 2o exhibited excellent α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with the lowest IC₅₀ values of 212.52 ± 1.31, 237.26 ± 1.28, 138.35 ± 1.32, and 114.57 ± 1.35 μM, respectively, as compared to the standard acarbose (IC₅₀ = 375.82 ± 1.76 μM). The compounds (2a-2q) showed α-glucosidase IC₅₀ values in the range of 114.57 ± 1.35 to 462.94 ± 1.23 μM. Structure-activity relationship revealed that the size and electron-donating or -withdrawing effects of substituents influenced the activities, which led to the urease and α-glucosidase inhibiting properties. Compound 2m was a dual potent inhibitor against urease and α-glucosidase due to the presence of 2-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 urease and α-glucosidase with minimum IC₅₀ values. The cytotoxicity of the compounds (2a-2q) was also investigated against human cell lines MCF-7 and HeLa. Compound 2l showed moderate cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines. Moreover, in silico studies on most active compounds were also performed to understand the binding interaction of most active compounds with active sites of urease and α-glucosidase enzymes. Some compounds exhibited drug-like characteristics due to their lower cytotoxic and good ADME profiles.