Synthesis of benzoyl hydrazones having 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxy phenyl ring, their biological activities, and molecular modeling studies on enzyme inhibition activities.

Hydrazone compounds have high capacity in terms of antioxidant activity and enzyme inhibition activities such as anticholinesterase, tyrosinase, and urease. In this study, benzoyl hydrazones compounds (7a-7m) were synthesized starting from 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. Antioxidant activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated. In the β-carotene-linoleic acid and ABTS cation radical scavenging activities, compounds 7j , 7e , and 7m stood out as the most active compounds, respectively. In the anticholinesterase enzyme inhibition activity results, compound 7f exhibited the best activity against AChE and BChE enzymes in the synthesis series. In addition, molecular docking analysis was performed to understand the inhibition mechanism of the synthesized compounds with target enzymes at the atomic level. In the light of biological activity and in silico studies, it has the potential to guide studies for the development of new drugs for Alzheimer disease in the future.