An efficient synthesis of flavanones and their docking studies with aldose reductase

Abstract

A series of flavanone derivatives have been synthesized from 2-hydroxy acetophenone and benzaldehyde using fused calcium chloride in good to moderate yields, and their in vitro aldose reductase inhibitory activity has been tested on aldose reductase purified enzyme from Bovine lens. Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited potent aldose reductase inhibitory activity, and the obtained results are supported by the docking studies. Among the tested derivatives, 2, 3, 4-methoxy derivative 19 (IC50 5.88 ± 0.03 µM) exhibited the highest inhibitory activity whereas 2-methoxy derivative 12 showed the lowest, and the remaining compounds exhibited moderate activity with IC50 in the range of 6.09–7.89 µM. The spatial configuration of the most active derivative 19 was compared with pharmacophore requirements of the aldose reductase inhibitor site using a molecular modeling system.