Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of new 1,4-diarylazetidin-2-one derivatives (β-lactams) as selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors.

A new series of 1,4-diarylazetidin-2-one derivatives (β-lactams) were designed and synthesized to evaluate their biological activities as selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors. In vitro COX-1 and COX-2 inhibition studies showed that all compounds were selective inhibitors of the COX-2 isozyme with IC values in the 0.05-0.