Separation of α-glucosidase-inhibitory and liver X receptor-antagonistic activities of phenethylphenyl phthalimide analogs and generation of LXRα-selective antagonists

Liver X receptor (LXR) alpha/beta dual agonists are candidate medicaments for the treatment of metabolic syndrome, because their biological actions include increasing cholesterol efflux mediated by LXR beta. However, their clinical application is currently limited by their enhancing effect on triglyceride (TG) synthesis mediated by LXR alpha. Combination of an LXR alpha-selective antagonist with an LXR alpha/beta dual agonist may overcome this disadvantage. In the present work, structural development studies of phenethylphenyl phthalimide 9, which possesses LXR alpha/beta dual-antagonistic activity and alpha-glucosidase-inhibitory activity, led to the LXR alpha-selective antagonist 23f. Specific alpha-glucosidase inhibitors were also obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.