Synthesis of ferulic acid derivatives and their inhibition of cholinesterase inhibitory activity

Ferulic acid (FA), a natural product of phenylpropanoids containing phenolic hydroxyl groups, has a wide range of pharmacological activities and some therapeutic effect on Alzheimer's disease (AD).Using FA as the raw material, the ferulic acid carbamate aniline derivatives were first synthesized by 4-step esterification reaction, splicing carbamate active functional groups, hydrolysis reaction and amide condensation.These FA derivatives were evaluated for in vitro cholinesterase inhibition activity by the Ellman method.A total of 15 novel FA derivatives were designed and synthesized, and their structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and ESI-MS.Cholinesterase activity tests showed that compounds 5c, 5f, 5j, 5g, 5m possessed good acetylcholinesterase inhibition activity.Except for 5l, 5m, almost all compounds have inhibition activity on butyrylcholinesterase, which is much higher than that on acetylcholinesterase.In conclusion, compounds 5c, 5f, 5j and 5g can be used as potential anti-AD inhibitors targeting cholinesterase..