Synthesis and antioxidant activity of six novel N-ferrocenylmethyl-N-(nitrophenyl)- and -N-(cyanophenyl)-acetamides: Cyclic voltammetry and molecular docking studies

Abstract

Cyclic voltammetry (CV) assays were performed to measure superoxide anion radical (O–2-) scavenging activities of six novel N-ferrocenylmethyl-N-(nitrophenyl)-acetamides and N-fer­rocenylmethyl-N-(cyanophenyl)acetamides (FMA1-FMA6), followed by molecular docking simulations and in silico toxicity prediction. The obtained values of IC50 from CV assays indicated that all studied compounds showed promising scavenging activity against O.2- radicals, with the compounds FMA1, FMA3, and FMA4 possessing the most significant potency. A molecular docking study revealed that all compounds interact with amino acid residues of glutathione reductase via hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. The compound FMA4 was the most inactive compound against the glutathione reductase enzyme having the highest inhibitory concentration of 2.61 µM and the lowest docking score of -31.85 kJ/mol. Toxicity studies demonstrated that among six studied compounds, FMA4, FMA5, and FMA6 are predicted to be nontoxic.

Keywords

• Ferrocene derivatives
• superoxide anion radical
• binding free energy
• toxicity study