193002-34-5

Background: Schistosomiasis is a chronic parasitic disease that affects millions of people’s health worldwide. Because of the increasing drug resistance to praziquantel (PZQ), which is the primary drug for schistosomiasis, developing new drugs to treat schistosomiasis is crucial. Oxadiazole-2-oxides have been identified as potential anti-schistosomiasis reagents targeting thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR). Methods: In this work, one of the oxadiazole-2-oxides derivatives furoxan was used as the lead compound to exploit a series of novel furoxan derivatives for studying inhibitory activity against both recombinant Schistosoma japonicum TGR containing selenium (rSjTGR-Sec) and soluble worm antigen protein (SWAP) containing wild-type Schistosoma japonicum TGR (wtSjTGR), in order to develop a new leading compound for schistosomiasis. Thirty-nine novel derivatives were prepared to test their activity toward both enzymes. The docking method was used to detect the binding site between the active molecule and SjTGR. The structure–activity relationship (SAR) of these novel furoxan derivatives was preliminarily analyzed. Results: It was found that several new derivatives, including compounds 6a–6d, 9ab, 9bd and 9be, demonstrated greater activity toward rSjTGR-Sec or SWAP containing wtSjTGR than did furoxan. Interestingly, all intermediates bearing hydroxy (6a–6d) showed excellent inhibitory activity against both enzymes. In particular, compound 6d with trifluoromethyl on a pyridine ring was found to have much higher inhibition toward both rSjTGR-Sec (half-maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50,7.5nM) and SWAP containing wtSjTGR (IC50 55.8nM) than furoxan. Additionally, the docking method identified the possible matching sites between 6d and Schistosoma japonicum TGR (SjTGR), which theoretically lends support to the inhibitory activity of 6d. Conclusion: The data obtained herein showed that 6d with trifluoromethyl on a pyridine ring could be a valuable leading compound for further study.

Three synthetic strategies for the construction of tert-butyl (E)-3-arylprop-2-en-1-ol carbonates are described. Complementary approaches employing Suzuki-Miyaura coupling and cross-metathesis reaction gave moderate yields of the title compounds in one-step, both methods are suitable for high-throughput and parallel chemistry. A detailed investigation into the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction is provided along with the studies on the synthesis of pinacolyl 1-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)propenol-3-ylboronate, the key building block. Conventional synthesis of the title compounds via the Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction as a key step in a three-step-one-purification protocol was optimized and the results are compared with those of the latter reactions.