Synthesis of N,N'-bis(5-arylidene-4-oxo-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-2-yl)diamines bearing various linkers and biological evaluation as potential inhibitors of kinases

Abstract

The synthesis in 4 steps of new N,N'-bis(5-arylidene-4-oxo-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-2-yl)diamines issued from various symmetric primary diamines as linkers was reported. The key step of our strategy has been the sulphur/nitrogen displacement of (5Z)-5-arylidene-2-ethylsulfanyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-4-ones 6 with respectively ethylenediamine 7a, piperazine 7b and N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)piperazine 7c using solvent-free reaction conditions under microwave irradiation with retention of configuration. These compounds were tested for their kinase inhibitory potencies toward four kinases (GSK-3α/β, DYRK1A, CLK1 and CLK3).