Synthesis, anti-inflammatory, p38α MAP kinase inhibitory activities and molecular docking studies of quinoxaline derivatives containing triazole moiety.

A new series of 3-[2-(5-mercapto-4-phenyl-4H-1,2,4-traiazol-3-yl)ethyl] quinoxalin-2(1H)-one (5a-v) derivatives was synthesized and subjected to in vitro evaluation for anti-inflammatory activity (BSA anti-denaturation assay) and p38α MAPK inhibition. Few selected compounds (5a, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5h, 5l, 5q and 5u) were studied for their in vivo anti-inflammatory activity, ulcerogenicity and lipid peroxidation potential. Compounds 5e and 5f were found to be the most active in the series showing 83.45% and 84.15% anti-inflammatory activity respectively when compared to diclofenac sodium (83.22%). They were also found to have low ulcerogenic potential and lipid peroxidation. The p38α MAP kinase inhibition of the compounds 5e and 5f was also found to be slightly better than the standard SB 203580. The compounds were also docked against p38α MAP kinase enzyme in order to predict their binding mode. Compounds 5e and 5f showed stronger binding with an additional hydrogen bond interaction with ASP-168 which was not observed in SB 203580.