Synthesis,antioxidant, and anticholinesterase activities of novel N-arylsulfonyl hydrazones bearing sulfonate ester scaffold

In this research, two new series of N-arylsulfonyl hydrazone compounds ( 14 – 25 ) possessing a sulfonate moiety were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and various spectroscopic techniques including fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), ¹H-, and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These compounds synthesized as target molecules ( 14 – 25 ) were tested for their in vitro acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibition activities and antioxidant potential. The antioxidant capacities of the tested molecules were determined by four different assays. The IC₅₀ values of the screened molecules were determined in the range of 60.14 ± 0.25–84.81 ± 1.09 μM against AChE and in the range of 70.11 ± 0.67–93.60 ± 0.47 μM against BChE. In the AChE assay, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde-based compound 25 (60.14 ± 0.25 μM) showed the highest activity in comparison to rivastigmine (501 ± 3.08 μM). This compound (71.42 ± 0.19 μM) is also one of the compounds with the highest activity against BChE. In the BChE assay, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde-based compound 19 (70.11 ± 0.67 μM) indicated the highest activity in comparison to rivastigmine (19.95 ± 0.20 μM). In antioxidant activity studies, the tested molecules showed lower activities than the standard compounds (butylated hydroxytoluene and α-tocopherol). Consequently, some novel compounds can be used as potential inhibitor candidates in future studies.