Design, synthesis, molecular modeling and anti-hyperglycemic evaluation of phthalimide-sulfonylurea hybrids as PPARγ and SUR agonists.

New series of phthalimide-sulfonylurea hybrids were prepared and examined for their in vivo anti-hyperglycemic activities in STZ-induced hyperglycemic rats using glibenclamide as a reference drug. Compounds 6c, 6d, 6g, 6h, 6j and 6k induced significant reduction in the blood glucose levels of diabetic rats ranging from 24.43 to 21.43%. Moreover, molecular docking and pharmacophore approaches were carried out to examine binding modes and fit values of the prepared compounds against PPARγ and SUR, respectively. Compounds 6c, 6d, 6j and 6m exhibited the highest binding free energies against PPARγ. Compounds 6c, 6j, 6k, 6l, and 6n showed the highest fit values against the generated pharmacophore model. Also, QSAR technique was carried out to estimate the proposed PPARγ binding affinities and insulin-secreting abilities. The synthesized compounds showed promising estimated activities. In-silico ADMET studies were performed to investigate pharmacokinetics of the synthesized compounds. They showed considerable human intestinal absorption with low BBB penetration.