Thiocarbohydrazone and Chalcone-Derived 3,4-Dihydropyrimidinethione As Lipid Peroxidation and Soybean Lipoxygenase Inhibitors

The potential of the 4,6-diphenyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidine-2(1)-thione (abbreviated as ) and ()-'-benzylidenehydrazinecarbothiohydrazide (abbreviated as ) compounds as possible drug leads is investigated. and are synthesized in high yield of up to 97%. Their structure, binding in the active site of the LOX-1 enzyme, and their toxicity are studied via joint experimental and computational methodologies. Specifically, the structure assignment and conformational analysis were achieved by applying homonuclear and heteronuclear 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy (2D-COSY, 2D-NOESY, 2D-HSQC, and 2D-HMBC) and density functional theory (DFT). The obtained DFT lowest energy conformers were in agreement with the NOE correlations observed in the 2D-NOESY spectra. Additionally, docking and molecular dynamics simulations were performed to discover their ability to bind and remain stabile in the active site of the LOX-1 enzyme. These in silico experiments and DFT calculations indicated favorable binding for the enzyme under study. The strongest binding energy, -9.60 kcal/mol, was observed for dihydropyrimidinethione in the active site of LOX-1. ADMET calculations showed that the two molecules lack major toxicities and could serve as possible drug leads. The redox potential of the active center of LOX-1 with the binding molecules was calculated via DFT methodology. The results showed a significantly smaller energy attachment of 2.8 eV with binding in comparison to . Thus, enhanced the ability of the active center to receive electrons compared to . This is related to the stronger binding interaction of relative to that of to LOX-1. The two very potent LOX-1 inhibitors exerted IC 19 μΜ () and 22.5 μΜ (). Furthermore, they both strongly inhibit lipid peroxidation, namely, 98% for and 94% for .