Design, synthesis and structure–activity relationship of 4,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazol-6(1H)-ones as potent p53-MDM2 inhibitors

In the past decade, the p53-MDM2 protein–protein interaction by small molecules has been confirmed as a successful strategy for cancer therapy. In our previous work, pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazol-6(1H)-ones were found to be potent p53-MDM2 inhibitors. Further optimization and structure–activity relationship studies were described in the present work. The result revealed that benzyl group on position N1 of imidazole and bromine on C4-phenyl of pyrrolidone showed higher inhibitory activities. In vitro antiproliferative assay demonstrated the potent p53-MDM2 inhibitor 5c with 4-fold selectivity for U2 OS and Saos-2 cells. These data indicated that 4,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazol-6(1H)-one moiety is a valuable scaffold for further development of p53-MDM2 inhibitors.