Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular modeling of oxoisoaporphine and oxoaporphine derivatives as new dual inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase/butyrylcholinesterase

Aporphine alkaloids, isolated from Chinese medicinal herb, are important natural products. We recently reported that synthetic derivatives of oxoisoaporphine alkaloids exhibited high acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and high selectivity for AChE over BuChE (Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2007, 17, 3765–3768). In this paper, further research results were presented. A series of novel derivatives of oxoaporphine alkaloids (5a–j, 4-carboxylic amide-7-oxo-7H-dibenzo[de,g]quinoline, Ar-CONH(CH2)nNR) and their quaternary methiodide salts (6a–h, Ar-CONH(CH2)nN+(CH3)RI−) were designed and synthesized as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and/or butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibitors. The AChE inhibition potency of synthetic oxoaporphine derivatives was decreased about 2–3 orders of magnitude as compared with that of oxoisoaporphine derivatives. Non-competitive binding mode was found for both kinds of derivatives. Molecular docking simulations on the oxoisoaporphine derivatives 7 series and oxoaporphine derivatives 6 series with AChE from Torpedo californica have demonstrated that the ligands bound to the dual-site of the enzyme.

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