Novel deoxyvasicinone derivatives as potent multitarget-directed ligands for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease: Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation.

A series of multitarget ligands was designed by introducing several structurally diverse aminoacetamide groups at position 6 of the deoxyvasicinone group, with the aim of obtaining novel multifunctional anti-Alzheimer's disease agents using deoxyvasicinone as the substrate. In vitro studies showed that almost all of the derivatives were potent inhibitors of human recombinant acetylcholinesterase (hAChE) and human serum butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE), with IC values in the low nanomolar range, and exhibited moderate to high inhibition of Aβ self-aggregation. In particular, compounds 12h, 12n, and 12q showed promising inhibitory activity for hAChE, with IC values of 5.31 ± 2.8, 4.09 ± 0.23, and 7.61 ± 0.53 nM, respectively. Compounds 12h and 12q also exhibited the greatest ability to inhibit hBChE, with IC values of 4.35 ± 0.32 and 2.35 ± 0.14 nM, respectively. Moreover, enzyme kinetics confirmed that compound 12q caused a mixed type of AChE inhibition, by binding to both the active sites (PAS and CAS) of AChE. Remarkably, compound 12q also demonstrated the highest potential inhibitory activity for Aβ self-aggregation (63.9 ± 4.9%, 10 μM), and it was also an excellent metal chelator.