Theoretical investigation and design of some indole derivatives as potent β-glucuronidase inhibitors

Abstract

Theoretical investigation via QSAR modeling on 30 indole derivatives was performed to build a model which could be used to predict the activity of the indole derivatives. QSAR was carried out using multi-linear regression (MLR) method utilizing genetic function approximation (GFA) to develop the QSAR models. A very high predictive QSAR model was reported based on its statistical fitness with good internal and external validation parameters: R2trng = 0.954942, Qcv2 = 0.925462, R2test = 0.855393, and LOF = 0.042924. Molecular docking on the 30 indole derivatives was also performed to screen and identify the lead compound that would be used as template for designing new indole compounds. The docking investigation reveals that ligand 10 binds very tight in the binding pocket of β-glucuronidase enzyme with binding energy of − 9.5 kcal/mol. The ligand (10) was chosen as a template for designing new β-glucuronidase inhibitors. The four design compounds were found to be better than the template and the standard drug (D-saccharic acid 1, 4-lactone) with binding energies of − 9.6, − 9.7, − 9.8, and − 9.9 kcal/mol.