Design, synthesis and pharmacobiological evaluation of novel acrylic acid derivatives acting as lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase-1 inhibitors with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities

A series of novel acrylic acid derivatives bearing at the 3 position thienyl, furfuryl and 3,5-ditert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl substituents have been designed, synthesized and tested as potential dual lipoxygenase/cyclooxygenase-1 (LOX/COX-1) inhibitors and as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents. Some compounds have shown moderate antioxidant and COX-1 inhibitory activities, very good anti-inflammatory activity and an inhibition of soybean lipoxygenase (LOX) higher than caffeic acid. In particular, compound 4I disclosed a moderate in vitro LOX inhibition with an IC₅₀ = 100 μM whereas compounds 1I and 2II exhibited the best, albeit poor, activity as COX-1 inhibition (75% inhibition at 100 μM). Good radical scavenging properties were shown by compounds 4I, 3I and 1II. Docking simulations performed on LOX inhibitor 4I and COX-1 inhibitor 1I indicated that hydrophobic key interactions may govern the enzyme-inhibitor binding.