Design, Synthesis, Binding and Docking-Based 3D-QSAR Studies of 2-Pyridylbenzimidazoles—A New Family of High Affinity CB1 Cannabinoid Ligands

A series of novel 2-pyridylbenzimidazole derivatives was rationally designed and synthesized based on our previous studies on benzimidazole 14, a CB1 agonist used as a template for optimization. In the present series, 21 compounds displayed high affinities with K(i) values in the nanomolar range. JM-39 (compound 39) was the most active of the series (K(iCB1) = 0.53 nM), while compounds 31 and 44 exhibited similar affinities to WIN 55212-2. CoMFA analysis was performed based on the biological data obtained and resulted in a statistically significant CoMFA model with high predictive value (q(2) = 0.710, r(2) = 0.998, r(2)(pred) = 0.823).