Design, Synthesis and Pharmacological Evaluation of Novel C,C-Quinoxaline Derivatives as Promising Anxiolytic Agents.

A new series of quinoxaline derivatives, -, were synthesized and their anxiolytic potential was evaluated in vivo using elevated plus maze (EPM), open field (OF) and light-dark box (LDB) techniques. According to the results of the EPM, four active compounds were found in , , , . Their anxiolytic properties were confirmed in terms of LDB and the most active was compound . In the OF, only had an influence on the locomotor activity of the rodents. Thus, the most promising substance was determined; this was , which has the structure of 2-(2-{[3-(4-tert-butylphenyl)quinoxaline-2-yl]methyl}-4,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-methylethan-1-amine hydrochloride. The obtained data were analyzed with the pharmacophore feature prediction approach, which made it possible to compare the structures of the studied compounds with the reference drug diazepam, and to determine the contribution of pharmacophores to the manifestation of the activity under study. ADMET analysis was carried out for compound and the acute oral toxicity of this substance was also tested in vivo. As a result of the study, a promising compound with a high anxiolytic effect and low level of toxicity was found, which is of interest for further preclinical study of its properties.