Novel thiazolidinone-containing compounds, without the well-known sulphonamide zinc-binding group acting as human carbonic anhydrase IX inhibitors

A small collection of 26 structurally novel thiazolidinone-containing compounds, without the well-known sulphonamide zinc-binding group, were synthesised and tested in enzyme inhibition assays against the tumour-associated hCA IX enzyme. Inhibition constants in the lower micromolar region (K(I) < 25 μM) have been measured for 17 of the 26 compounds. Even though the K(I) values are relatively weak, the fact that they do not contain a sulphonamide moiety suggests that these compounds do not interact with the active site zinc ion. Therefore, docking studies and molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to suggest binding poses for these structurally novel inhibitors.