Electrocatalytic tandem assembly of aldehydes with 2-thiobarbituric acid into 5,5'-(arylmethylene)bis(1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acids) and evaluation of their interaction with catalases

Electrocatalytic transformation of aldehydes with two equivalents of 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid has been carried out in alcohols in an undivided cell in the presence of sodium halides with the selective formation of the substituted 5,5'-(arylmethylene)bis(1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acids) in 87–98% yields and with 870–980% current efficiency. This new one-pot electrochemically induced tandem Knoevenagel–Michael process is a simple and efficient approach to substituted 5,5'-(arylmethylene)bis(1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acids) containing two 1,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid fragments separated by C-aryl-substituted spacer, which are promising compounds for different biomedical applications, including anticonvulsant, antiAIDS agents and anti-inflammatory remedies. Theoretical studies were carried out to investigate the interaction of the synthesized compounds with beef and human catalases.