Synthesis and evaluation of 7-substituted coumarin derivatives as multimodal monoamine oxidase-B and cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract A series of 7-substituted coumarin derivatives were designed and synthesised to display ChE and MAO-B inhibitory activity. The compounds consisted out of a coumarin structure (MAO-B inhibitor) and benzyl-, piperidine-, N -benzylpiperidine- or p -bromo- N -benzylpiperizine moiety, resembling the N -benzylpiperidine function of donepezil (ChE inhibitor), connected via an alkyl ether linkage at the 7 position. The biological assay results indicated that all the compounds ( 1 – 25 ) displayed selective inhibition to hMAO-B over hMAO-A, with the benzyloxy series ( 1 – 8 , 10 – 13 ) showing nano-molar hMAO-B inhibition (IC 50 : 0.5–73 nM). Limited ChE inhibitory activity was however observed for the benzyloxy series with the exception of 2 and especially 3 showing selective BuChE inhibition. From this series 3 showed the best multifunctional activity (eqBuChE IC 50  = 0.96 μM, hMAO-A IC 50  = 2.13 μM, hMAO-B IC 50  = 0.0021 μM). Within the N -benzylpiperidine ( 16 – 19 ) and p -bromo- N -benzylpiperizine ( 21 – 24 ) series the compounds in general showed moderate ChE and MAO-B inhibitory activity. Of these compounds 19 was the most potent multifunctional agent showing good eeAChE and eqBuChE inhibition (IC 50  = 9.10 μM and 5.90 μM, respectively), and relatively potent and selective hMAO-B inhibition (IC 50  = 0.30 μM, SI = >33). Molecular modeling revealed that 19 was able to bind simultaneously to the CAS, mid-gorge and PAS sites of AChE and BuChE suggesting that it will be able to inhibit AChE induced Aβ aggregation. From this study, compounds that 3 and 19 can be considered as promising multifunctional lead compounds.