Abstract
A structure-guided modelling approach using COX-2 as a template was used to investigate the effect of replacing the chloro atom located at the chlorophenyl ring of amide-linked bipyrazole moieties, aiming at attaining better anti-inflammatory effect with a good safety profile. Bromo, fluoro, nitro, and methyl groups were revealed to be ideal candidates. Consequently, new bipyrazole derivatives were synthesised. The in vitro inhibitory COX-1/COX-2 activity of the synthesised compounds exhibited promising selectivity. The fluoro and methyl derivatives were the most active candidates. The in vivo formalin-induced paw edoema model confirmed the anti-inflammatory activity of the synthesised compounds. All the tested derivatives had a good ulcerogenic safety profile except for the methyl substituted compound. In silico molecular dynamics simulations of the fluoro and methyl poses complexed with COX-2 for 50 ns indicated stable binding to COX-2. Generally, our approach delivers a fruitful matrix for the development of further amide-linked bipyrazole anti-inflammatory candidates.
Graphical Abstract
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Acknowledgements
TMI acknowledges the cluster of Bibliotheca Alexandrina High-Performance Computing for granting access to perform the molecular dynamics simulations. The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Umm Al-Qura University for supporting this work by Grant Code: [22UQU4290565DSR47].
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.