NO-donating tacrine derivatives as potential butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors with vasorelaxation activity

To search for potent anti-Alzheimer’s disease (AD) agents with multifunctional effects, 12 NO-donating tacrine–flurbiprofen hybrid compounds (2a–l) were synthesized and biologically evaluated. It was found that all the new target compounds showed selective butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitory activity in vitro comparable or higher than tacrine and the tacrine–flurbiprofen hybrid compounds 1a–c, and released moderate amount of NO in vitro. The kinetic study suggests that one of the most active and highest BuChE selective compounds 2d may not only compete with the substrate for the same catalytic active site (CAS) but also interact with a second binding site. Furthermore, 2d and 2l exhibited significant vascular relaxation effect, which is beneficial for the treatment of AD. All the results suggest that 2d and 2l might be promising lead compounds for further research.

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