Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder in which the pancreas secretes insulin but the body cells do not recognize it. As a result, carbohydrate metabolism causes hyperglycemia, which may be fatal for various organs. This disease is increasing day by day and it is prevalent among people of all ages, including young adults and children. Acarbose and miglitol are famous alpha-glucosidase inhibitors but they complicate patients with the problems of flatulence, pain, bloating, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. To overcome these challenges, it is crucial to discover new anti-diabetic drugs with minimal side effects. For this purpose, benzotriazinone sulfonamides were synthesized and their structures were characterized by FT-IR,
1
H-NMR and
13
C-NMR spectroscopy.
In vitro
alpha-glucosidase inhibition studies of all synthesized hybrids were conducted using the spectrophotometric method. The synthesized compounds revealed moderate-to-good inhibition activity; in particular, nitro derivatives
12e
and
12f
were found to be the most effective inhibitors against this enzyme, with IC
50
values of 32.37 ± 0.15 µM and 37.75 ± 0.11 µM. In silico studies, including molecular docking as well as DFT analysis, also strengthened the experimental findings. Both leading compounds
12e
and
12f
showed strong hydrogen bonding interactions within the enzyme cavity. DFT studies also reinforced the strong binding interactions of these derivatives with biological molecules due to their lowest chemical hardness values and lowest orbital energy gap values.