A series of ninety-seven diarylpentanoid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity through NO suppression assay using interferone gamma (IFN-γ)/lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. Twelve compounds (9, 25, 28, 43, 63, 64, 81, 83, 84, 86, 88 and 97) exhibited greater or similar NO inhibitory activity in comparison with curcumin (14.7 ± 0.2 µM), notably compounds 88 and 97, which demonstrated the most significant NO suppression activity with IC₅₀ values of 4.9 ± 0.3 µM and 9.6 ± 0.5 µM, respectively. A structure–activity relationship (SAR) study revealed that the presence of a hydroxyl group in both aromatic rings is critical for bioactivity of these molecules. With the exception of the polyphenolic derivatives, low electron density in ring-A and high electron density in ring-B are important for enhancing NO inhibition. Meanwhile, pharmacophore mapping showed that hydroxyl substituents at both meta- and para-positions of ring-B could be the marker for highly active diarylpentanoid derivatives.

The natural product molecule 2,4,6-trihydroxy-3-geranyl-acetophenone (tHGA) isolated from the medicinal plant Melicope ptelefolia was shown to exhibit potent lipoxygenase (LOX) inhibitory activity. It is known that LOX plays an important role in inflammatory response as it catalyzes the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, such as linoleic acid to form hydroperoxides. The search for selective LOX inhibitors may provide new therapeutic approach for inflammatory diseases. Herein, we report the synthesis of tHGA analogs using simple Friedel-Craft acylation and alkylation reactions with the aim of obtaining a better insight into the structure-activity relationships of the compounds. All the synthesized analogs showed potent soybean 15-LOX inhibitory activity in a dose-dependent manner (IC₅₀ = 10.31–27.61 μM) where compound 3e was two-fold more active than tHGA. Molecular docking was then applied to reveal the important binding interactions of compound 3e in soybean 15-LOX binding site. The findings suggest that the presence of longer acyl bearing aliphatic chain (5Cs) and aromatic groups could significantly affect the enzymatic activity.