Synthesis of some novel hydrazone and 2-pyrazoline derivatives: monoamine oxidase inhibitory activities and docking studies

Abstract

A novel series of 2-pyrazoline and hydrazone derivatives were synthesized and investigated for their human monoamine oxidase (hMAO) inhibitory activity. All compounds inhibited the hMAO isoforms (MAO-A or MAO-B) competitively and reversibly. With the exception of 5i, which was a selective MAO-B inhibitor, all derivatives inhibited hMAO-A potently and selectively. According to the experimental Ki values, compounds 6e and 6h exhibited the highest inhibitory activity towards the hMAO-A, whereas compound 5j, which carries a bromine atom at R(4) of the A ring of the pyrazoline, appeared to be the most selective MAO-A inhibitor. Tested compounds were docked computationally into the active site of the hMAO-A and hMAO-B isozymes. The computationally obtained results were in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values.

Keywords: 2-Pyrazoline; Hydrazone; MAO inhibitors; Molecular docking.