Synthesis and biological assessment of diversely substituted furo[2,3-b]quinolin-4-amine and pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinolin-4-amine derivatives, as novel tacrine analogues

The synthesis and pharmacological analyses of a number of furo[2,3-b]quinolin-4-amine, and pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinolin-4-amine derivatives are reported. Thus, we synthesized diversely substituted tacrine analogues 1-11 and 12-16 by Friedländer-type reaction of readily available o-amino(furano/pyrrolo)nitriles with suitable and selected cycloalkanones. The biological evaluation of furanotacrines 1-11 and pyrrolotacrine 13 showed that these are good, in the micromolar range, and highly selective inhibitors of BuChE. In the furanotacrine group, the most interesting inhibitor was 2-(p-tolyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofuro[2,3-b]quinolin-4-amine (3) [IC₅₀ (eqBuChE) = 2.9 ± 0.4 μM; IC₅₀ (hBuChE) = 119 ± 15 μM]. Conversely, pyrrolotacrines 12 and 14 proved moderately equipotent for both cholinesterases, being 1,2-diphenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b] quinolin-4-amine (12) the most potent for the inhibition of both enzymes [IC₅₀ (EeAChE) = 0.61 ± 0.04 μM; IC₅₀ (eqBuChE) = 0.074 ± 0.009 μM]. Moreover, pyrrolotacrine 12, at concentrations as low as 300 nM can afford significant neuroprotective effects against Aβ-induced toxicity. Docking studies show that compounds 3 and 12 bind in the middle of the AChE active site gorge, but are buried deeper inside BuChE active site gorge, as a consequence of larger BuChE gorge void. All these data suggest that these new tacrine analogues could be used for the potential treatment of Alzheimer's disease.