An Efficient Synthesis of bi-Aryl Pyrimidine Heterocycles: Potential New Drug Candidates to Treat Alzheimer's Disease.

A series of 13 novel pyrimidine-based sulfonamides 6a-m were synthesized in short periods of time under microwave conditions in good to excellent yield (54-86%). The chemical structures of these heterocycles consist of a central pyrimidine ring having a phenyl group and pyrimidine groups with sulfonamide motifs. The enzyme inhibitory potential of these compounds was investigated against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) because these enzymes play a crucial role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. As compared to the reference compound eserine (IC50  = 0.04 ± 0.0001 μM for AChE and IC50  = 0.85 ± 0.0001 μM for BChE), the IC50 values of the synthesized compounds ranged from 3.73 ± 0.61 μM to 57.36 ± 0.22 μM for AChE and 4.81 ± 0.16 μM to 111.61 ± 0.53 μM for BChE. Among these tested compounds, 6j having a -CH3 group was found to be the most potent one against both enzymes (AChE, IC50  = 3.73 ± 0.61 μM; BChE, IC50  = 4.81 ± 0.16 μM). Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and molecular docking studies of the synthesized compounds were also performed.