In silico Assessment of Drug-like Properties of Alkaloids from Areca catechu L Nut

Purpose : To investigate in silico the drug-like properties of alkaloids (arecoline, arecaidine, guvacine, guvacoline, isoguvacine, arecolidine and homoarecoline) obtained from the fruits of Areca catechu L (areca nut). Methods : All chemical structures were re-drawn using Chemdraw Ultra 11.0. Furthermore, software including Bio-Loom for Windows - version 1.5, Molinspiration Property Calculator and ACD/I-LAB service were used to predict the drug-like properties of the alkaloids, including relative molecular mass (MW), partition coefficient log P (cLog P), number of hydrogen bond donors (HBD), number of hydrogen bond acceptors (HBA), topological polar surface area (TPSA), number of rotatable bonds (NROTB), pKa, and aqueous solubility at a given pH (LogS). In addition, Lipinski’s rule was used to evaluate druglike properties. Results : From our research, MWs of the seven compounds were all 7.5; furthermore, they possess good solubility at pH 1.0, 5.0, and 7.0. Conclusion : All the seven alkaloids possess good drug-like properties, and demonstrated good oral absorption and bioavailability. The results also suggest that these compounds can be further developed into new oral drugs for treating certain diseases. Keywords : Areca catechu L, Areca nut, Drug-like properties, Alkaloids, Arecoline, Arecaidine, Guvacine, Guvacoline, Isoguvacine, Arecolidine, Homoarecoline, In silico