Synthesis, in vitro potency of inhibition, enzyme kinetics and in silico studies of quinoline-based α-glucosidase inhibitors

Diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial global health disorder that is rising at an alarming rate. One effective therapeutic approach for controlling hyperglycemia associated with type-2 diabetes is to target α-glucosidase, which catalyzes starch hydrolysis in the intestine. In an attempt to find potential α-glucosidase inhibitors, a series of twenty new quinoline linked benzothiazole hybrids (8a-t) were synthesized in good yields from suitable reaction procedures and their chemical structures were analyzed by ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, IR, and ESI-MS analysis. The synthesized derivatives further screened for their activity against α-glucosidase. Among them, compounds 8b, 8h, 8n and 8o exhibited remarkable α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values ranging from 38.2 ± 0.3 to 79.9 ± 1.2 µM compared with standard drug acarbose (IC₅₀ = 750.0 ± 2.0 µM). Enzyme kinetic studies of the most active compound (8h) indicated a non-competitive inhibition with K_i value of 38.2 µM. Moreover, the homology modeling, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies were conducted to reveal key interactions between the most active compound 8h and the targeted Enzyme. These results are complementary to the experimental observations. In order to predict the druggability of the novel derivatives, the pharmacokinetic properties were also applied. These findings could be useful for the design and development of new α-glucosidase inhibitors.