α-Glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition, molecular modeling and pharmacokinetic studies of new quinazolinone-1,2,3-triazole-acetamide derivatives

In this study, a new series of quinazolinone-1,2,3-triazole-acetamide hybrids 8a–m, using by molecular hybridization of the potent α-glucosidase inhibitor pharmacophores, was designed and evaluated against carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes α-glucosidase and α-amylase. All the synthesized compounds with IC50 values in the range of 45.3 ± 1.4 µM to 195.5 ± 4.7 µM were significantly more potent than standard inhibitor against α-glucosidase, while these compounds were not active against α-amylase in comparison to standard inhibitor. Representatively, compound 8a with IC50 = 45.3 ± 1.4 µM was around 17 times more potent than standard inhibitor acarbose (IC50 = 750.0 ± 12.5 µM). The inhibition kinetic analysis of the compound 8a indicated that this compound was a competitive α-glucosidase inhibitor. Molecular modeling analysis confirmed that the most potent inhibitors 8a and 8b well accommodated in the modeled α-glucosidase active site and it was also revealed that these compounds formed stable inhibitor–receptor complexes with the α-glucosidase in comparison to acarbose. In silico pharmacokinetic and toxicity of the most potent compounds were evaluated and obtained results were compared with acarbose. Furthermore, the most potent compounds were also evaluated against human normal cells and no cytotoxicity was observed.