Synthesis and pharmacological profiling of cis-1-amino-2-indanol derivatives as α-glucosidase inhibitors

By treating cis-1-amino-2-indanol with different functionalized isocyanates and isothiocyanates, a group of 15 indanol derivatives were synthesized. The synthesis was effectively performed employing a previously proven method and the resulting products were characterized through multiple spectroscopic techniques including NMR spectroscopy and the α-glucosidase inhibitory assay was used to evaluate their α-glucosidase inhibitory capacity. The results indicated a varied level of inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and 2h showed the highest potency with IC₅₀ value of 9.64 ± 0.24 µM, while compounds 2g, 2c, and 3i also exhibited significant inhibition. The kinetic analysis of the most active inhibitor 2h showed its competitive mode of inhibition, with a Ki value of 7.39 ± 0.088 µM. The binding modes of compounds were predicted by molecular docking analysis within the active site of α-glucosidase enzyme, where our molecules showed significant binding and docking scores. Docking analysis revealed that the thiourea and urea moieties play a critical role in facilitating the interaction of the molecules with one of the catalytic triad residues. The current study provides a basis for the development of a possible lead compound that can inhibit α-glucosidase.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-29712-w.