Utilization of the common functional groups in bioactive molecules: Exploring dual inhibitory potential and computational analysis of keto esters against α-glucosidase and carbonic anhydrase-II enzymes.

Diabetes mellitus, a progressive chronic disease, characterized by the abnormal carbohydrate metabolism is associated with severe health complications including long term dysfunction or failure of several organs, cardiovascular and micro-angiopathic problems (neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy). Despite the existence of diverse chemical structural libraries of α-glucosidase inhibitors, the limited diabetic treatment due to the adverse side effects such as abdominal distention, flatulence, diarrhoea, and liver damage associated with these inhibitors encourage the medicinal research community to design and develop new and potent inhibitors of α-glucosidase with better pharmacokinetic properties. In this perspective, we demonstrate the successful integration of common functional groups (ketone & ester) in one combined pharmacophore which is favorable for the formation of hydrogen bonds and other weaker interactions with the target proteins. These keto ester derivatives were screened for their α-glucosidase inhibition potential and the in vitro results revealed compound 3c as the highly active inhibitor with an IC value of 12.4 ± 0.16 μM compared to acarbose (IC = 942 ± 0.74 μM). This inhibition potency was ~76-fold higher than acarbose. Other potent compounds were 3f (IC = 28.0 ± 0.28 μM), 3h (IC = 33.9 ± 0.09 μM), 3g (IC = 34.1 ± 0.04 μM), and 3d (IC = 76.5 ± 2.0 μM). In addition, the emerging use of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy (a leading cause of vision loss) prompted us to screen the keto ester derivatives for the inhibition of carbonic anhydrase-II. Compound 3b was found significantly active against carbonic anhydrase-II with an IC of 16.5 ± 0.92 μM (acetazolamide; IC = 18.2 ± 1.23 μM). Compound 3a also exhibited comparable potency with an IC value of 18.9 ± 1.08 μM. Several structure-activity relationship analyses depicted the influence of the substitution pattern on both the aromatic rings. Molecular docking analysis revealed the formation of several H-bonding interactions through the ester carbonyl and the nitro oxygens of 3c with the side chains of His348, Arg212 and His279 in the active pocket of α-glucosidase whereas 3b interacted with His95, -OH of Thr197, Thr198 and WAT462 in the active site of carbonic anhydrase-II. Furthermore, evaluation of ADME properties suggests the safer pharmacological profile of the tested derivatives.