Design and synthesis of curcumin derivatives as tau and amyloid β dual aggregation inhibitors

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. In an AD patient's brain, senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the abnormal aggregates of amyloid beta (A beta) peptide and tau protein, are observed as the two major hallmarks of this disease. To develop a new drug for treatment of AD, we have designed and synthesized a series of curcumin derivatives and evaluated their inhibitory activities against both tau and Ab aggregation. In this study, we describe the development of the more potent aggregation inhibitor 3-[(1E)-2-(1H-indol-6-yl) ethenyl]-5-[(1E)-2-[ 2-methoxy-4-(2-pyridylmethoxy) phenyl] ethenyl]-1H-pyrazole (compound 4, PE859). This compound has a better pharmacokinetic profile and pharmacological efficacy in vivo than curcumin, making it suitable as a drug for AD. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.