Synthesis and screening of (E)-3-(2-benzylidenehydrazinyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine analogs as novel dual inhibitors of α-amylase and α-glucosidase

(E)-3-(2-Benzylidenehydrazinyl)-5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazines analogs 1–27 were synthesized by multi-step reaction scheme and subjected to in vitro inhibitory screening against α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. Out of these twenty-seven synthetic analogs, ten compounds 14–17, 19, and 21–25 are structurally new. All compounds exhibited good to moderate inhibitory potential in terms of IC₅₀ values ranging (IC₅₀ = 13.02 ± 0.04–46.90 ± 0.05 µM) and (IC₅₀ = 13.09 ± 0.08–46.44 ± 0.24 µM) in comparison to standard acarbose (IC₅₀ = 12.94 ± 0.27 µM and 10.95 ± 0.08 µM), for α-amylase and α-glucosidase, respectively. Structure-activity relationship indicated that analogs with halogen substitution(s) were found more active as compared to compounds bearing other substituents. Kinetic studies on most active α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitors 5, 7, 9, 15, 24, and 27, suggested non-competitive and competitive types of inhibition mechanism for α-amylase and α-glucosidase, respectively. Molecular docking studies predicted the good protein-ligand interaction (PLI) profile with key interactions such as arene-arene, H-<, <-<, and <-H etc., against the corresponding targets.