Design, synthesis, evaluation and thermodynamics of 1-substituted pyridylimidazo[1,5-a]pyridine derivatives as cysteine protease inhibitors.

Targeting papain family cysteine proteases is one of the novel strategies in the development of chemotherapy for a number of diseases. Novel cysteine protease inhibitors derived from 1-pyridylimidazo[1,5-a]pyridine representing pharmacologically important class of compounds are being reported here for the first time. The derivatives were initially designed and screened in silico by molecular docking studies against papain to explore the possible mode of action.