Synthesis and structure-activity relationship of 4-substituted 2-(2-acetyloxyethyl)-8-(morpholine-4-sulfonyl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]quinoline-1,3-diones as potent caspase-3 inhibitors

Synthesis, biological evaluation, and SAR dependencies for a series of novel 1,3-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo-[3,4-c]quinoline inhibitors of caspase-3 are described. The inhibitory activity of the synthesized compounds is highly dependent on the nature of 4-substituents on the core scaffold. 4-Methyl-and 4-phenyl-substituted derivatives, which were the most active compounds within this series, inhibited caspase-3 with IC50 of 23 and 27 nM, respectively.