New cyclooxygenase-2/5-lipoxygenase inhibitors. 3. 7-tert-butyl-2, 3-dihydro-3,3-dimethylbenzofuran derivatives as gastrointestinal safe antiinflammatory and analgesic agents: variations at the 5 position.

We report an expansion of the scope of our initial discovery that 5-keto-substituted 7-tert-butyl-2,3-dihydro-3,3-dimethylbenzofurans (DHDMBFs) are antiinflammatory and analgesic agents. Several other functional groups have been introduced at the 5 position: amides, amidines, ureas, guanidines, amines, heterocycles, heteroaromatics, and heteroaryl ethenyl substituents in the 5 position all provide active compounds. These compounds are dual cyclooxygenase (COX) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitors. They inhibit both COX-1 and COX-2 with up to 33-fold selectivity for COX-2.