Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new tricyclic spiroisoxazoline derivatives as selective COX-2 inhibitors and study of their COX-2 binding modes via docking studies

A new series of 3′-(4-substitutedphenyl)-4′-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl) spiroisoxazoline derivatives containing naphthalenone and chromanonespiro-bridge were synthesized for evaluation as selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors. A synthetic reaction based on the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition mechanism was used for the regiospecific formation of various spiroisoxazolines. One of the analogs, i.e., compound 7h, as the representative of the series was recrystallized and characterized structurally by single-crystal X-ray diffraction method. Moreover, the 3D structures of the synthesized compounds were docked into the COX-2 binding site to determine their most probable binding modes once the drug-receptor complexes are formed.