DL-3-n-butylphthalide-Edaravone hybrids as novel dual inhibitors of amyloid-β aggregation and monoamine oxidases with high antioxidant potency for Alzheimer’s therapy

Abstract Considering the complex etiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), multifunctional agents may be beneficial for the treatment of this disease. A series of DL -3- n -butylphthalide-Edaravone hybrids were designed, synthesized and evaluated as novel dual inhibitors of amyloid- β aggregation and monoamine oxidases. Among them, compounds 9a – d exhibited good inhibition of self-induced A β 1-42 aggregation with inhibition ratio 57.7–71.5%. For MAO, these new hybrids exhibited good balance of inhibition for MAO-A and MAO-B. In addition, all target compounds retained the antioxidant activity of edaravone, showed equal or better antioxidant activity than edaravone. The results of the parallel artificial membrane permeability assay for blood-brain barrier indicated that compounds 9a – d would be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and reach their biological targets in the central nervous system. The promising results in all assays demonstrated that the strategy behind the designing of compounds was rational and favourable. Taken together, these preliminary findings suggested that the compounds with the strongest bioactivity deserves further investigated for pharmacological development in AD therapy.