Design, Synthesis and Molecular Docking Studies of Pyrazoline Derivatives as PI3K Inhibitors

Aim: Design, synthesis and molecular docking studies of quinoline/naphthalene containing pyrazoline derivatives as PI3K inhibitors. Background: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Ks) belong to the family of enzymes, which are associated with various cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation etc. Overexpression or any changes in these functions may result in various abnormalities, which in turn cause cancer. Objectives: To perform synthesis and molecular docking studies of quinoline/naphthalene containing pyrazoline derivatives as PI3K inhibitors. Methods: 2-Chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde was synthesized by a reaction of acetanilide and POCl3. The latter was reacted with substituted acetophenones to synthesize chalcones, which were reacted with substituted phenyl hydrazines to yield pyrazoline derivatives (Series I). Similarly, pchloro benzaldehyde was reacted with 2-acetonapthone to yield chalcone with substituted phenyl hydrazines to yield pyrazoline derivatives (Series II). Results: The synthetic compounds were subjected to molecular modelling experiments using Schrodinger 2016 software and evaluated in silico for their PI3K binding affinities. All the compounds had better docking scores than AMG-319 (-4.36 Kcal/mol) and comparable docking scores with PI-103 (-6.83 Kcal/mol). Conclusion: Compounds 5 and 3 had the best docking scores (-7.85 and -7.17 Kcal/mol, respectively). The synthesized compounds have better docking scores than the reference drug AMG-319. As a result, they might be used as lead molecules in investigating PI3K inhibitors.