Curcumin-based pyrazoline analogues as selective inhibitors of human monoamine oxidase A.

A series of 2-methoxy-4-(5-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1-pyrazol-3-yl)phenol (pyrazoline) derivatives () have been synthesized and tested for human monoamine oxidase (hMAO) inhibitory activity. The most active derivative () behaved as a competitive hMAO-A inhibitor, with an inhibition constant value of 0.08 μM and a strong hMAO-A selectivity ((hMAO-B)/(hMAO-A) > 1751).