Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel zinc (II) and nickel (II) phthalocyanines as cholinesterase inhibitors

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the irreversible neurodegenerative disorders among older people and causes behavior, memory and thinking problems. In this study, peripheral tetra-[(6-(3-(diethylaminophenoxy)hexyl]oxy) substituted zinc (II) and nickel (II) phthalocyanines and their water soluble derivatives were prepared for the first time. To determine the potential of novel synthesized compounds to be used in Alzheimer's disease (AD), in vitro and in silico AChE/BuChE inhibitory and cytotoxic effects were investigated. The docking scores and ∆G values clearly indicated a stronger affinity between DE-C6-CN and AChE than BuChE. In addition, DE-C6-ZnQ and DE-C6-NiQ had higher inhibitory effects than galantamine and both compounds were competitive inhibitors on AChE and BuChE according to Lineweaver-Burk plots. DE-C6-NiQ had a more potent cytotoxicity effect than DE-C6-ZnQ in SH-SY5Y cells. All these results indicated that DE-C6-ZnQ had the potential to be used in the treatment of AD.