Synthesis of novel 1-[5-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-[1,3,4]oxadiazol-2-yl]-piperazine derivatives and evaluation of their in vivo anticonvulsant activity

•A series of novel piperazines 8(a–o) were synthesized.•Novel compounds were characterized by different spectral techniques.•All the synthesized compounds were screened for their anticonvulsant activity.•Compounds 8d, 8e, 8f and 8h were found to be most potent of this series.•The presence of electron withdrawing groups in 8d showed best activity.

A series of novel 1-[5-(4-methoxy-phenyl)-[1,3,4]oxadiazol-2-yl]-piperazine derivatives 8(a–o) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectral studies. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for their anticonvulsant activity against maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model in male wistar rats and compared with the standard drug phenytoin. The neurotoxic effects were determined by rotorod test by using mice. Compounds 8d, 8e, 8f and 8h were found to be most potent of this series. The same compounds showed no neurotoxicity at the maximum dose administered (100 mg/kg). The efforts were also made to establish the structure activity relationships among synthesized compounds. The pharmacophore model was used to validate the anticonvulsant activity of the synthesized molecules.

Graphical abstractA series of oxadiazole derivatives 8(a–o) were synthesized and screened for their anticonvulsant activity against MES model. Compound, 8d was found to be most potent among the series.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide