Sinapic Acid Derivatives as Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agents: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation

Transcription factor NF-κB and relevant cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Sinapic acid is a natural product and was demonstrated to possess anti-inflammatory activity. In this paper, we synthesized a series of sinapic acid derivatives and evaluated their anti-inflammatory effects. The result suggested that all of the targets compounds 7a-j inhibit NF-κB activation and decrease IL-6 and IL-8 expression in BEAS-2B cells. By our biological assays, we found that all of the prepared compounds displayed stronger anti-inflammatory activities than their precursor sinapic acid. Especially, compounds 7g and 7i, with electron-drawing groups (nitro and fluoro moieties) in the benzimidazole ring, exhibited remarkable anti-inflammation activity, which was even stronger than the reference drug dexamethasone.