Design, synthesis and docking study of Vortioxetine derivatives as a SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitor.

Purpose: Vortioxetine an anti-depressant FDA-drug recently reported showing better in vitro efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: In this study, we have synthesized ten new derivatives having alkenes, alkynes, benzyl, aryl, and mixed carbamate at the N-terminal of vortioxetine. Then the binding energy and interactions with the crucial amino acid residues in the binding pocket of main protease (M) of SARS-CoV-2, of reported and ten newly synthesized vortioxetine derivatives (total thirty-one) in comparison with remdesivir are analyzed and presented in this paper.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of vortioxetine derivatives as new COX-1/2 inhibitors in human monocytes.

In order to identify a suitable alternative to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) we aimed to develop derivatives of vortioxetine, a multimodal anti-depressive drug that has been shownpreviously to be endowed withanti-inflammatory activity in human monocytes/macrophages. Vortioxetine (1) was synthesized in good yield and different alkyl and aryl derivatives were prepared based on their structural diversity and easy availability. The compounds were tested on human monocytes isolated from healthy donors for theireffect on superoxide anion production and cytokine gene expression, and for COX-1/2 gene expression and activity modulation.