Synthesis and Spectroscopic Analysis of Piperine- and Piperlongumine-Inspired Natural Product Scaffolds and Their Molecular Docking with IL-1β and NF-κB Proteins

Gabriel Zazeri, Ana Paula R. Povinelli, Cécile S. Le Duff, Bridget Tang, Marinonio L. Cornelio, Alan M. Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Inspired by the remarkable bioactivities exhibited by the natural products, piperine and piperlongumine, we synthesised eight natural product-inspired analogues to further investigate their structures. For the first time, we confirmed the structure of the key cyclised dihydropyrazolecarbothioamide piperine analogues including the use of two-dimensional (2D) 15N-based spectroscopy nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Prior investigations demonstrated promising results from these scaffolds for the inhibition of inflammatory response via downregulation of the IL-1β and NF-κB pathway. However, the molecular interaction of these molecules with their protein targets remains unknown. Ab initio calculations revealed the electronic density function map of the molecules, showing the effects of structural modification in the electronic structure. Finally, molecular interactions between the synthesized molecules and the proteins IL-1β and NF-κB were achieved. Docking results showed that all the analogues interact in the DNA binding site of NF-κB with higher affinity compared to the natural products and, with the exception of 9a and 9b, have higher affinity than the natural products for the binding site of IL-1β. Specificity for the molecular recognition of 3a, 3c and 9b with IL-1β through cation–π interactions was determined. These results revealed 3a, 3c, 4a, 4c and 10 as the most promising molecules to be evaluated as IL-1β and NF-κB inhibitors.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2841
JournalMolecules
Volume25
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brasil (CAPES)–Finance Code 001 in the form of research scholarships for A.P.R.P. and G.Z. The APC was funded by Molecules, MDPI.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.

Keywords

  • Molecular docking
  • Piperine
  • Piperlongumine

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Chemistry (miscellaneous)
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

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