Conformationally Restricted Glycoconjugates Derived from Arylsulfonamides and Coumarins: New Families of Tumour-Associated Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors

The involvement of carbonic anhydrases (CAs) in a myriad of biological events makes the development of new inhibitors of these metalloenzymes a hot topic in current Medicinal Chemistry. In particular, CA IX and XII are membrane-bound enzymes, responsible for tumour survival and chemoresistance. Herein, a bicyclic carbohydrate-based hydrophilic tail (imidazolidine-2-thione) has been appended to a CA-targeting pharmacophore (arylsulfonamide, coumarin) with the aim of studying the influence of the conformational restriction of the tail on the CA inhibition. For this purpose, the coupling of sulfonamido- or coumarin-based isothiocyanates with reducing 2-aminosugars, followed by the sequential acid-promoted intramolecular cyclization of the corresponding thiourea and dehydration reactions, afforded the corresponding bicyclic imidazoline-2-thiones in good overall yield. The effects of the carbohydrate configuration, the position of the sulfonamido motif on the aryl fragment, and the tether length and substitution pattern on the coumarin were analysed in the in vitro inhibition of human CAs. Regarding sulfonamido-based inhibitors, the best template turned out to be a d-galacto-configured carbohydrate residue, meta-substitution on the aryl moiety (9b), with K(i) against CA XII within the low nM range (5.1 nM), and remarkable selectivity indexes (1531 for CA I and 181.9 for CA II); this provided an enhanced profile in terms of potency and selectivity compared to more flexible linear thioureas 1–4 and the drug acetazolamide (AAZ), used herein as a reference compound. For coumarins, the strongest activities were found for substituents devoid of steric hindrance (Me, Cl), and short linkages; derivatives 24h and 24a were found to be the most potent inhibitors against CA IX and XII, respectively (K(i) = 6.8, 10.1 nM), and also endowed with outstanding selectivity (K(i) > 100 µM against CA I, II, as off-target enzymes). Docking simulations were conducted on 9b and 24h to gain more insight into the key inhibitor–enzyme interactions.