2-Phenitidine derivatives as suitable inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase

Abstract

This manuscript reports the synthesis of a series of N-substituted derivatives of 2-phenitidine. First, the reaction of 2-phenitidine (1) with benzene sulfonyl chloride (2) yielded N-(2-ethoxyphenyl) benzenesulfonamide (3), which further on treatment with sodium hydride and alkyl halides (4a-g) furnished into new sulfonamides (5a-g). Second, the phenitidine reacted with benzoyl chloride (6) and acetyl chloride (8) to yield the reported N-benzoyl phenitidine (7) and N-acetyl phenitidine (9), respectively. These derivatives were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, ¹H-NMR, and EI-MS, and then screened against acetylcholinesterase, butylcholinesterase, and lipoxygenase enzyme, and were found to be potent inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase alone.