The present work concerns the rational design and development of new inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) based on the privileged xanthone scaffold. In order to understand and rationalize the mode of action of these target structures a theoretical study was initially conducted. From the results of rational design, a new variety of amphiphilic xanthone derivatives were synthesized, structurally characterized and evaluated as potential anti-Alzheimer agents. The results showed that most of the synthesized compounds exhibited high AChE inhibitory activity at the micromolar range (IC50, 0.46-12.09μM). The synthetic xanthone 11 showed the best inhibitory effect on AChE and a molecular modeling study revealed that 11 targeted both the catalytic active site (CAS) and the peripheral anionic site (PAS) of AChE. Therefore, this compound could be considered asa potential lead compound towards new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

We report an efficient, selective, rapid and eco-friendly protocol for the one-step synthesis of a small xanthone library via an intermolecular catalytic coupling from readily available salicylaldehydes and 1,2-dihaloarenes under ligand-free conditions. To achieve this advantageous direct annulation, we used a novel recoverable palladium nanocatalyst supported on a green biochar under microwave irradiation. Unlike other existing palladium-based approaches, our synthetic strategy showed a greater operational simplicity, drastic reduction in reaction times, and an excellent tolerance to diverse functional groups. The reaction proceeds in very good yields and with high regioselectivity. The novel heterogeneous catalyst can be recycled and reused up to four times without significant loss of activity.