Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Benzothiazole-Phenyl Analogs as Multi-Target Directed Ligands for Treating Pain

Abstract

<b>Abstract ID 14305</b> <b>Poster Board 162</b> Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) and fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) are potential targets for several diseases. Previous studies have reported that concomitant selective inhibition of sEH and FAAH produced antinociception effects in an animal model of pain. However, the co-administration of a selective sEH inhibitor and a selective FAAH inhibitor might produce serious side effects due to drug-drug interactions that could complicate drug development in the long term. Thus, discovering dual sEH/FAAH inhibitors, single small molecules that can simultaneously inhibit both sEH and FAAH, would be a significant accomplishment in the medicinal chemistry field. Herein, we report the synthesis and biological evaluation of benzothiazole-phenyl-based analogs as potential dual sEH/FAAH inhibitors. This work represents a follow-up structure activity relationship (SAR) and metabolic-stability studies of our best dual sEH/FAAH inhibitor identified previously. Our SAR study indicates that trifluoromethyl groups on the aromatic rings are well tolerated by the targeted enzymes when placed at the ortho and para positions; however, they, surprisingly, did not improve metabolic stability in liver microsomes. Support/Funding Information: National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number SC2GM135020