Synthesis and bioevaluation of 1-phenylimidazole-4-carboxylic acid derivatives as novel xanthine oxidoreductase inhibitors

Abstract As part of a continuing study, we designed and synthesized four series of 1-phenylimidazole-4-carboxylic acid derivatives as xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) inhibitors, evaluated their in vitro inhibitory potencies against XOR and hypouricemic effects in mice, and determined their structure-activity relationships (SARs). Most of the compounds exhibited in vitro XOR inhibition at the nanomolar level. In comparison to febuxostat (half-maximal inhibitory concentration [IC50] value of 7.0 nM), compounds Ie and IVa exhibited the most promising XOR inhibitory effects with IC50 values of 8.0 and 7.2 nM, respectively. In the potassium oxonate/hypoxanthine-induced acute and long-term hyperuricemia mouse models, compounds Ie and IVa displayed significant hypouricemic potencies (P