prepared and evaluated for acaricidal activity against P. cuniculi.
Meanwhile, the structure-activity relationship was discussed also.
O
O
O
R
Cl
b or c
OH
a
1 28
31
(ester, thioester, amide)
O
CHO
O
d
+
H3C
29
OCH2CH3
e, f
OH
30
O
g
R
CHO
( R = heteroaryl )
R
O
32 45
Scheme 1. Synthetic Route of Compounds 1−45. Reagents and conditions: (a) SOCl2, 75 °C, 2 h; (b) R-OH or EtSH, DCM, 0 °C, 1 h, for 1−26; (c)
NH3, R-NH2 or R2NH, H2O, 0 °C, 1 h, for 26−29; (d) 10% NaOH, EtOH, r.t., 6 h; (e) SOCl2, 0 °C, 1 h; (f) EtONa, EtOH, r.t., 1 h. (g) Ph3P=CHCO2Et,
EtOH, 80 °C, 5 h.
In order to have an insight into the effect of the chain length,
branching degree and type of the alkyl group in the ester moiety
on the activity, a series of cinnamic acid esters (1–23) formed
from cinnamic acid and various alcohols or phenols were
designed (Table 1). The alkyl groups include C1-C8 linear alkyl,
C3-C5 branched-chain alkyl, cyclohexyl, benzyl and substituted
benzyl, phenyl and substituted phenyl. Additionally, we also
designed some amide, thioester, ketone or ether derivatives (24–
30) (Table 1) of ethyl cinnamate to inspect the relationship
between the ester group itself or its two oxygen atoms and the
activity. On the other hand, a series of heteroacromatic ring
analogues (32–45) (Table 1) were also designed to know the
influence of various heteroaromatic rings on the activity. It was
expected that the structural similarity and diversity could lead to
the discovery of more potent acaricidal compounds.
The synthetic rout is outlined in Scheme 1. Commercially
available cinnamic acid was used as a starting material to
synthesize compounds 1–28. Cinnamic acid was treated with
SOCl2 to provide cinnamoyl chloride. The esters (1–23), thioester
(24) or amides (25–28) were obtained by reaction of cinnamoyl
chloride with the appropriate alcohols, phenols, ethyl mercaptan,
ammonia or amines in 85–94% yield. Ketone 29 was synthesized
by aldol condensation reaction of benzaldehyde with 2-pentanone
in 61% yield. Commercially available cinnamyl alcohol was
treated with SOCl2 to yield cinnamyl chloride, and followed by
treatment with sodium ethoxide to yield ether 30. Compounds
32–45 were obtained by Wittig reaction of ethyl
triphenylphosphanylideneacetate [(C6H5)3P=CHCO2Et] and the
corresponding heterocyclic formaldehydes in ethanol in 55‒92%
yield.
moiety, and signals of one additional methylene at δH 4.20 (dd, J
= 6.0, 1.4 Hz, 2H) and δC 71.3 compared with 2. The coupling
constant values of Hα and Hβ (J = ca. 16 Hz) confirmed trans
configuration of the compounds.
Compounds 1–45 were screened for acaricidal activity in
vitro against P. cuniculi according to our previously reported
method27. Ivermectin, a clinical acaricidal drug standard, was
used as a reference control. The results are listed in Table 1. All
the compounds showed the activity at various degrees at 0.5
mg/mL, and of which 15 compounds (1–5, 15, 16, 24, 29, 32–34,
38, 40, 41) showed the mortality rates of 70‒100%, equal to or
higher than that of ivermectin (75.0%) (p < 0.05). At 0.25
mg/mL, nine compounds (1−3, 16, 32, 34, 38, 40, 41) showed the
mortality rates of 66‒100%, equal to or higher than that of
ivermectin (68.0%) (p<0.05). Compounds 2, 32 and 40 gave the
highest mortality rates of 98‒100% (p>0.05) at 0.25 mg/mL.
In order to get insight into acaricidal potency in more detail,
the compounds (1−3, 16, 32, 34, 38, 40) with the higher initial
activity were further determined for median lethal concentrations
(LC50) and median lethal times (LT50) according to the same
method as described above. Ivermectin was used as a reference
drug. The mortality rates caused by various test concentrations of
the compounds for the same time (24 h) or various treatment
times at the same concentration (4.5 mM) are shown in Fig. 2 and
3, respectively. LC50 and LT50 values of the compounds are listed
in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
It was seen from Fig. 2 and 3 that the activity of all the
compounds including ivermectin increased with increase of both
test concentration and treatment time. However, the various
compounds showed the different change trend (or steepness) of
the curves, showing that the effects of the treatment
concentration or time on the activity of the various compounds
are different. In most cases, the test compounds showed the
higher activity at the same test mass concentration than
ivermectin (Fig. 2A), but the opposite was observed at the same
molar concentration (Fig. 2B). The results above were further
confirmed by LC50 values of the various compounds (Table 2).
When LC50 values are expressed in millimolar concentration, all
the compounds (LC50 = 0.36 to 1.07 mM) were less active than
ivermectin (LC50 = 0.28 mM). On the contrary, when mass
concentration is applied, all the compounds (LC50 = 60 to192
µg/mL) were more active than ivermectin (247.4 µg/mL). The
results above are due to the molecular weight of ivermectin
The synthesized known compounds were confirmed by
comparison of its 1H, 13C-NMR and MS data with those reported
1
in literature. New compound 21 was characterized by H NMR,
1
13C NMR and HRMS analysis. In H-NMR spectra, the esters
(1−23, 32−45), amides (25−28) and thioester (24) showed two
doublet signals in the ranges of δH 7.5−8.0 (1H, d, J = 16.0 Hz)
and 6.2−7.3 (1H, d, J = 16.0 Hz) due to Hβ and Hα of the acryloyl
moiety, respectively. In 13C-NMR spectra, the esters and amides
−167.9. The carbonyl
showed signal of one carbonyl at δC 164.4
signals of thioester 24 and ketone 29 were observed at δC 190.0
and 200.6, respectively. Ether 30 showed one doublet signal at δH
6.67 (d, J = 15.9 Hz, 1H) and one double triplet signal at δH 6.37
(2×t, J = 15.9, 6.0 Hz, 1H) due to two protons of the ethylene