Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel (E)-2-benzylidene-N-(3-cyano-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophen-2-yl)hydrazine-1-carboxamide derivatives as α-glucosidase inhibitors.

In this present study, a series of novel (E)-2-benzylidene-N-(3-cyano-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophen-2-yl)hydrazine-1-carboxamide derivatives against α-glucosidase were designed and synthesized, and their biological activities were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Most of the designed analogues exhibited better inhibitory activity than the marketed acarbose, especially the most potent compound 7 with an IC value of 9.26 ± 1.84 μM. The direct binding of 7 and 8 with α-glucosidase was confirmed by fluorescence quenching experiments, and the kinetic and molecular docking studies revealed that 7 and 8 inhibited α-glucosidase in a non-competitive manner. Cytotoxicity bioassay indicated compounds 7 and 8 were non-toxic towards LO2 and HepG2 at 100 μM. Furthermore, both compounds were demonstrated to have in vivo hypoglycemic activity by reducing the blood glucose levels in sucrose-treated rats.