Dicyanoanilines as potential and dual inhibitors of α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes: Synthesis, characterization, in vitro, in silico, and kinetics studies

The present study comprised of the synthesis of dicyanoaniline derivatives of pyridine, thiophene, furan, and substituted phenyl 1–29. All synthetic derivatives were evaluated for their potential to inhibit α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. The synthesized compounds are classified into three categories A, B, and C based on variable substituents at R1 and R2, and the structure–activity relationship was discussed accordingly. Amongst twenty-nine derivatives, 1–29, five compounds 2, 9, 18, 23, and 24 displayed excellent inhibition against α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes with the IC50 values ranging between 20.33 ± 0.02–25.50 ± 0.06 µM and 21.01 ± 0.12–27.75 ± 0.17 µM, respectively, while other compounds showed moderate to weak inhibition against both enzymes. Acarbose was used as the positive control in this study. The enzyme kinetic studies showed non-competitive and un-competitive types of inhibition mechanism against α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes, respectively. In silico studies have demonstrated the involvement of these molecules in numerous binding interactions within the active site of the enzyme.