2-Benzyloxynaphthalene aminoalkylated chalcone designed as acetylcholinesterase inhibitor: Structural characterisation, in vitro biological activity and molecular docking studies

The design of an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor with multifunctional properties became the perspective for the development of an effective drug against Alzheimer's disease. Towards this target, 1-{4-hydroxy-3-[(piperidin-1-yl)methyl]phenyl}ethan-1-one (chalcone 3) was prepared and studied as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. The novel chalcone 3 was synthesised via Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction with 84% yield and characterized using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The in vitro bioactivity studies of chalcone 3 demonstrated excellent inhibitory activity against AChE (IC50 1.0 nM) showing 33-fold better inhibition than donepezil, biometal chelating ability and moderate antioxidant activity. Chalcone 3 with these fascinating multifunctional proprieties can be a good candidate for the development of AD treatments. A molecular modelling investigation revealed that chalcone 3 showed dual binding inhibition of AChE enzyme. XRD shows short intra- and inter-molecular interactions with two chalcone 3 molecules per cell. Interesting Hirshfeld Surface Analysis (HSA) was conducted showing explicit agreement with the XRD analysis.