Antispasmodic and antimicrobial activities of pyrazole‐containing ferrocenyl alkanols versus their phenyl analogs, and the entry point to potential multitarget treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract

AbstractInflammatory bowel diseases (IBM), such as Crohn's disease, and their common complications represent a global health challenge. Many pyrazole derivatives, such as the spasmolytic drug metamizole, have already found their place among the frequently used therapeutic agents. Alteration of the structure of established therapeutic drugs by introducing a ferrocene moiety was shown to be a promising way for the discovery of new drugs. Herein, two libraries of analogous ferrocenyl (1a‐1j) and phenyl alkanols (2a‐2j) containing a pyrazole core, among which 17 completely new structures, have been synthesized, and structurally and electrochemically characterized. These compounds, along with the aldehydes used for their synthesis, were tested in parallel for their antispasmodic, acetylcholinesterase‐inhibitory, and antimicrobial activities to evaluate their potential as multitarget IBM drugs. The antispasmodic activity was investigated by assessing their effect on both the amplitude and number of spontaneous contractions of isolated rat ileum. Their antimicrobial effect was evaluated against a panel of Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacterial strains and fungi. It was found that several of the evaluated compounds displayed gastrointestinal smooth muscle relaxant activity, among them, 1‐(1H‐3‐ferrocenyl‐1‐phenylpyrazol‐4‐yl)‐3‐methylbutan‐1‐ol (1d) showed a remarkable effect by superseding the activity of papaverine. Together with the fact that it represents one of the most antimicrobially active investigated compounds, 1d is a good candidate for further pharmacological evaluation as a multitarget drug for IBM.