Design, synthesis, characterization and in vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory evaluation of novel pyrazole-based chalcones.

Abstract A series of novel pyrazole-based chalcones have been designed, synthesized from 1-methyl-5-(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)-1H-pyrazole (6). The structures of regioisomers 6 and 7 were determined by 2D (1)H-(1)H COSY, (1)H-(13)C HSQC and (1)H-(13)C HMBC experiments. The newly synthesized compounds were tested for their inhibitory activity against COX-1 and COX-2 using an in vitro cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition assay. Moreover, they were investigated in vivo for their anti-inflammatory activities using carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model for acute inflammation and cotton pellet-induced granuloma model for chronic inflammation. All the synthesized compounds showed potential to demonstrate anti-inflammatory activities, of particular interest compounds 10i, 10e, 10f, and 10h were found to be potent anti-inflammatory agents.