One pot, three-component reaction of 1-acryloyl-3,5-bisarylmethylidenepiperidin-4-ones with isatin and sarcosine in molar ratios of 1:1:1 and 1:2:2 furnished to mono- and bis-spiropyrrolidine heterocyclic hybrids comprising functionalized piperidine, pyrrolidine and oxindole structural motifs. Both mono and bis-spiropyrrolidines displayed good inhibitory activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) with IC₅₀ values of 2.36-9.43 μM. For butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), mono-cycloadducts in series 8 with IC₅₀ values of lower than 10 μM displayed better inhibitory activities than their bis-cycloadduct analogs in series 9 with IC₅₀ values of 7.44-19.12 μM. The cycloadducts 9j and 8e were found to be the most potent AChE and BChE inhibitors with IC₅₀ values of 2.35 and 3.21 μM, respectively. Compound 9j was found to be competitive inhibitor of AChE while compound 8e was a mixed-mode inhibitor of BChE with calculated Ki values of 2.01 and 6.76 μM, respectively. Molecular docking on Torpedo californica AChE and human BChE showed good correlation between IC₅₀ values and free binding energy values of the synthesized compounds docked into the active site of the enzymes.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, which affected 35 million people in the world. The most practiced approach to improve the life expectancy of AD patients is to increase acetylcholine neurotransmitter level at cholinergic synapses by inhibition of cholinesterase enzymes. A series of unreported piperidone grafted spiropyrrolidines 8(a-p) were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities. Therein, compounds 8h and 8l displayed more potent AChE enzyme inhibition than standard drug with IC50 values of 1.88 and 1.37 µM, respectively. Molecular docking simulations for 8l possessing the most potent AChE inhibitory activities, disclosed its interesting binding templates to the active site channel of AChE enzymes. These compounds are remarkable AChE inhibitors and have potential as AD drugs.