Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of imidazolyl derivatives of 4,7-disubstituted coumarins as aromatase inhibitors selective over 17-α-hydroxylase/C17-20 lyase

J Med Chem. 2011 Mar 24;54(6):1613-25. doi: 10.1021/jm101120u. Epub 2011 Feb 22.

Abstract

The design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a series of new aromatase (AR, CYP19) inhibitors bearing an imidazole ring linked to a 7-substituted coumarin scaffold at position 4 (or 3) are reported. Many compounds exhibited an aromatase inhibitory potency in the nanomolar range along with a high selectivity over 17-α-hydroxylase/C17-20 lyase (CYP17). The most potent AR inhibitor was the 7-(3,4-difluorophenoxy)-4-imidazolylmethyl coumarin 24 endowed with an IC(50) = 47 nM. Docking simulations on a selected number of coumarin derivatives allowed the identification of the most important interactions driving the binding and clearly indicated the allowed and disallowed regions for appropriate structural modifications of coumarins and closely related heterocyclic molecular scaffolds.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aromatase Inhibitors / chemical synthesis*
  • Aromatase Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Aromatase Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Cell Line
  • Coumarins / chemical synthesis*
  • Coumarins / chemistry
  • Coumarins / pharmacology
  • Drug Design
  • Escherichia coli / enzymology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Imidazoles / chemical synthesis*
  • Imidazoles / chemistry
  • Imidazoles / pharmacology
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Ligands
  • Microsomes / enzymology
  • Models, Molecular
  • Placenta / enzymology
  • Pregnancy
  • Protein Binding
  • Steroid 17-alpha-Hydroxylase / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • 7-(3,4-difluorophenoxy)-4-(1H-imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2H-chromen-2-one
  • Aromatase Inhibitors
  • Coumarins
  • Imidazoles
  • Ligands
  • Steroid 17-alpha-Hydroxylase