Anti-inflammatory Potential of a Novel Imidazole Containing Murrayanine Based Chalcone

Abstract

Murrayanine is an active carbazole compound present in the Indian Curry tree, known as Murraya koenigii L. belonging to the family Rutaceae. Traditionally, it is known to exhibit anti-anemic, febrifuge, carminative, stomachic, purgative, astringent, and anthelmintic. The present research involved the synthesis of (E)-3-(4-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)phenyl)-1-(1-methoxy-9H-carbazol-3-yl)prop-2-en-1-one from murrayanine and 4-(imidazol-1-yl) acetophenone and exploring the anti-inflammatory activity of the fabricated hybrid. The current effort involved screening the significance of imidazole function present in the ring-B of the murrayanine-chalcone scaffold and their further optimization thereof with emphasis on structural aspects. A moderate edema reducing potential has been seen in the newly developed compound (3). As compared with the indomethacin, the standard drug, the chalcone exhibited impressive anti-inflammation effect after 3hrs. The activity may be mediated by inhibiting the pro-inflammatory constituents like cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and lipoxygenase (5-LOX) which may be due to the imidazole group and benzylidene acetophenone scaffold. This study will open new avenues of research by promoting the development of more potent natural product based hybrid compounds with a high level of safety. In successive studies, more derivatives may be prepared to rationally study the structural influence over the activity and to derive information which will be of applied interest.