Anti-glycemic potential of benzophenone thio/semicarbazone derivatives: synthesis, enzyme inhibition and ligand docking studies

Inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) has been identified as a promising approach for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Therefore, development of DPP-IV inhibitors with new chemical scaffold is of utmost importance to medicinal chemistry. In the present study, we identified benzophenone thio- and semicarbazone scaffolds as novel DPP-IV inhibitors. For that purpose, benzophenone thio- and semicarbazone were synthesized through a 2-step reaction. These newly synthetic derivatives were characterized by different spectroscopic techniques, including HREI-MS and NMR. whereas stereochemistry of the iminic bond was predicted by NOESY experiments. Thio- and semicarbazones derivatives were evaluated for their DPP-IV inhibitory potential and found to exhibit a good to moderate enzyme inhibitory activity. Most active and non-cytotoxic derivatives were further evaluated for their DPP-IV inhibitory potential in <i>in cellulo</i> model. The binding sites as well as affinity of active compounds for DPP- IV enzyme were predicted by <i>in silico</i> studies, and compared to a standard drug, sitagliptin. Pharmacophore studies of thio- and semicarbazones derivatives 1–29 suggest that substitution of aryl group, particularly a lipophilic substituents at C-4″ of benzene ring, and a hydroxyl at C-4′ strongly influenced the DPP-IV inhibitory activity. Compound 9 showed the highest inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 15.0 ± 0.6 µM), whereas compounds 10, 17, 12, 14 and 23 showed a moderate activity with IC₅₀ values in the range of 28.9–39.2 µM. This study identifies thio- and semicarbazones as new classes of DPP-IV inhibitors which may translate into safe and effective therapeutics for a better management of type 2 diabetes. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma