New tetrahydroisoquinoline-4-carbonitrile derivatives as potent agents against cyclin-dependent kinases, crystal structures, and computational studies

The synthesis of two new hexahydroisoquinoline-4-carbonitrile derivatives (3a and 3b) is reported along with spectroscopic data and their crystal structures. In compound 3a, the intramolecular O—H···O hydrogen bond constraints the acetyl and hydroxyl groups to be syn. In the crystal, inversion dimers are generated by C—H···O hydrogen bonds and are connected into layers parallel to (10–1) by additional C—H···O hydrogen bonds. The layers are stacked with Cl···S contacts 0.17 Å less than the sum of the respective van der Waals radii. The conformation of the compound 3b is partially determined by the intramolecular O—H···O hydrogen bond. A puckering analysis of the tetrahydroisoquinoline unit was performed. In the crystal, O—H···O and C—H···O hydrogen bonds together with C—H···π(ring) interactions form layers parallel to (01–1) which pack with normal van der Waals interactions. To understand the binding efficiency and stability of the title molecules, molecular docking, and 100 ns dynamic simulation analyses were performed with CDK5A1. To rationalize their structure-activity relationship(s), a DFT study at the B3LYP/6-311++G** theoretical level was also done. The 3D Hirshfled surfaces were also taken to investigate the crystal packings of both compounds. In addition, their ADMET properties were explored. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma