Synthesis, biological evaluation, and molecular docking of dihydroflavonol derivatives as anti-inflammatory agents

A series of dihydroflavonol derivatives (4a-4l) were synthesized from chalcones via classical Algar-Flynn-Oyamada (AFO) reaction and characterized on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. All synthesized compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory activity against the pro-inflammatory-inducible TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-6 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cell lines and showed various efficiency. Furthermore, compounds 4d and 4k were selected to examine their in vivo anti-inflammatory activity by using two classical models. Herein compound 4k showed maximum anti-inflammatory activity of 32.98% inhibition in mice ear-swelling model and 40.06% inhibition at the 2h intervals in rat paw edema model in comparison to the two references: aspirin and meloxicam. Similar effect was observed at a lower dose. In addition, the compound 4k was docked against cyclooxygenases-2 to validate the attained pharmacological data and provide understandable evidence for the observed anti-inflammatory activity.