A large series of substituted chalcones have been synthesized and tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit human monoamine oxidases A and B (hMAO-A and hMAO-B). While all the compounds showed hMAO-B selective activity in the micro- and nanomolar ranges, the best results were obtained in the presence of chlorine and hydroxyl or methoxyl substituents. To better understand the enzyme-inhibitor interaction and to explain the selectivity of the most active compounds toward hMAO-B, molecular modeling studies were carried out on new, high resolution, hMAO-B crystallographic structures. For the only compound that also showed activity against hMAO-A as well as low selectivity, the molecular modeling study was also performed on the hMAO-A crystallographic structure. The docking technique provided new insight on the inhibition mechanism and the rational drug design of more potent/selective hMAO inhibitors based on the chalcone scaffold.

Two series of novel chromone derivatives were synthesized and investigated for their ability to inhibit the activity of monoamine oxidase. The SAR data indicate that chromone derivatives with substituents in position 3 of γ-pyrone nucleus act preferably as MAO-B inhibitors, with IC(50) values in the nanomolar to micromolar range. Almost all chromone 3-carboxamides display selectivity toward MAO-B. Identical substitutions on position 2 of γ-pyrone nucleus result in complete loss of activity in both isoforms (chromones 2-12 except 3 and 5). Notably, chromone (19) exhibits an MAO-B IC(50) of 63 nM, greater than 1000-fold selectivity over MAO-A, and behaves as a quasi-reversible inhibitor. Docking experiments onto the MAO binding of the most active compound highlight different interaction patterns among the isoforms A and B. The differential analysis of the solvation effects among the chromone isomers gave additional insight about the superior outline of the 3-substituted chromone derivatives.

The work provides a new model for the prediction of the MAO-A and -B inhibitor activity by the use of combined complex networks and QSAR methodologies. On the basis of the obtained model, we prepared and assayed 33 coumarin derivatives, and the theoretical prediction was compared with the experimental activity data. The model correctly predicted 27 compounds, and most of the active derivatives showed IC 50 values in the muM-nM range against both the MAO-A and MAO-B isoforms. Compound 14 shows the same MAO-A inhibitory activity (IC 50 = 7.2 nM), as clorgyline used as a reference inhibitor and has the highest MAO-A specificity (1000-fold higher compared to MAO-B). On the other hand, compounds 24 (IC 50 = 1.2 nM) and 28 (IC 50 = 1.5 nM) show higher activity than selegiline (IC 50 = 19.6 nM) and high MAO-B selectivity with 100-fold and 1600-fold inhibition levels, with respect to the MAO-A isoform.

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A large series of 3-carboxamido-7-substituted coumarins have been synthesized and tested in vitro for their human monoamine oxidase A and B (hMAO-A and hMAO-B) inhibitory activity. Taking into account all the relevant structural information on MAOs reported in the literature, we made some changes in the coumarin nucleus and examined with particular attention the effect on activity and selectivity of substituting at position 3 with N-aryl or N-alkyl carboxamide and at position 7 with a benzyloxy or a 4'-F-benzyloxy group. Some of the assayed compounds proved to be potent, selective inhibitors of hMAO-B with IC(50) values in the micromolar range. To better understand the enzyme-inhibitor interaction and to explain the selectivity of the most active compounds toward hMAOs, molecular modeling studies were carried out on new, high resolution, hMAO-A and hMAO-B crystallographic structures.

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A series of 2-methylcyclohexylidene-(4-arylthiazol-2-yl)hydrazones have been investigated for their ability to inhibit selectively the activity of the human A and B isoforms of monoamine oxidase (MAO). The target compounds, which present a stereogenic center on the cyclohexane ring, were obtained as pure (R) and (S) enantiomers by enantioselective HPLC. The absolute configuration of homochiral forms isolated on a semipreparative scale was obtained by a combined strategy based on chemical correlation and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. All compounds showed higher activity against the human MAO-B isoform with IC50 values ranging between 26.81 +/- 2.74 microM and 14.20 +/- 0.26 nM, and the assays carried out on the pure enantiomers showed higher activity for the (R) form. A computational study was performed by molecular mechanics, DFT-based quantomechanics, and docking techniques on the most active and human MAO-B selective inhibitor 8.