Synthesis, in vitro urease inhibitory activity, and molecular docking studies of (perfluorophenyl)hydrazone derivatives

A series of (perfluorophenyl)hydrazone derivatives 1 – 27 were synthesized by the condensation reaction of (perfluorophenyl)hydrazine with a variety of benzaldehydes. Compounds were structurally characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. All compounds were screened for their urease inhibitory activity which revealed that most of the analogs exhibited significant urease inhibitory activity in the range of IC 50 = 14.09 ± 0.23–78.69 ± 1.56 µM as compare to the standard thiourea (IC 50 = 21.10 ± 0.31 µM). Amongst active compounds, derivatives 2 (IC 50 = 14.23 ± 0.21 µM), 5 (IC 50 = 16.78 ± 0.33 µM), 7 (IC 50 = 15.59 ± 0.60 µM), 9 (IC 50 = 20.18 ± 0.78 µM), 10 (IC 50 = 16.13 ± 0.93 µM), and 11 (IC 50 = 14.09 ± 0.23 µM) showed potent inhibitory activity better than the standard thiourea. A limited structure-activity relationship (SAR) was established by rationalized the effect of different groups on the inhibitory potential. Molecular docking study was performed to understand the binding modes of active analogs into the active site of urease enzyme.