Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. The combined action of insulin and glucagon is responsible for maintaining glucose homeostasis in the body. Reported data indicates that some naphthoquinones can mimic insulin, maintaining glucose homeostasis in the body. This makes of naphthoquinones a future potent drug to treat Type II diabetes, avoiding daily injections. Neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), are also of particular interest. PD is a slowly progressive disease caused by the death of cells in the midbrain that results in reduction of a critical neurotransmitter called dopamine. AD is a progressive brain disease that slowly destroys the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. Actual clinical drugs for these diseases just provide symptomatic relief; they do not slow the progression. Reported data have demonstrated that some flavones and derivatives of gambogic amides are biologically active to treat PD and AD, respectively. By these reason we aim to synthesize derivatives of naphthoquinones, flavones, and gambogic amides to get a biological active and water soluble drug. The synthesis of parvaquone, a naphthoquinone derivative, was successful, obtaining 17.6 % yield. The reduction of this product to get 3-cyclohexyl-1,2-naphthoquinone has been done, but it is still in the purification step. For PD we synthesized 4'-dimethylamino-7,8-dihydroxyflavone, with a yield of 6.2%. For AD we synthesized 1-Gambogylpiperidine, a gambogic amide, obtaining 15% yield. We are waiting for biological results, but at least 20 derivatives of each compound have to be synthesized.

Synthesis of medicinal compounds as potential treatment for diabetes and neurological diseases

239th National Meeting (2010)

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