Rational design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation of allylidene hydrazinecarboximidamide derivatives as BACE-1 inhibitors

BACE-1 (β-secretase) is considered to be one of the promising targets for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease as it catalyzes the rate limiting step of Aβ-42 production. Herein, we report a novel class of allylidene hydrazinecarboximidamide derivatives as moderately potent BACE-1 inhibitors, having aminoguanidine substitution on allyl linker with two aromatic groups on either side. A library of derivatives was designed based on the docking studies, synthesized and evaluated for BACE-1 inhibition in vitro. The designed ligands displayed interactions with the catalytic aspartate dyad through guanidinium functionality. Further, the aromatic rings placed on either side of the linker occupied S1 and S3 active site regions contributing to the activity. These ligands were also predicted to follow Lipinski rule and cross blood brain barrier. Compound 2.21, having high docking score, was found to be most active with IC50 of 6.423 μM indicating good correlation with docking prediction.

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