Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) plays vital physiological and toxicological functions in many areas, such as CNS, inflammation, metabolic disorders, and cancers. Overexpression of ALDH1A1 has been disclosed to play an important role in obesity, diabetes and other diseases, indicating the potential need for the identification and development of small molecule ALDH1A1 inhibitors. Herein, a series of benzimidazole derivatives was designed, synthesized and evaluated. Among them, compounds 21, 27, 29, 61 and 65 exhibited excellent inhibitory activity against ALDH1A1 with IC₅₀ values in the low micromolar range and high selectivity over ALDH1A2, ALDH1A3, ALDH2 and ALDH3A1. Moreover, an in vitro study demonstrated that all five compounds effectively improved glucose consumption in HepG2 cells, of which, 61 and 65 at 10 µM produced nearly equal glucose consumption with positive control Metformin (Met) at 1 mM. Furthermore, 61 and 65 showed desirable metabolic stability in human liver microsomes. All these results suggest that 61 and 65 are suitable for further studies.

醛脱氢酶 1A1 (ALDH1A1) 在许多领域发挥重要的生理和毒理学功能，如中枢神经系统、炎症、代谢紊乱和癌症。已公开 ALDH1A1 的过度表达在肥胖、糖尿病和其他疾病中发挥重要作用，表明可能需要鉴定和开发小分子 ALDH1A1 抑制剂。在此，设计、合成和评价了一系列苯并咪唑衍生物。其中，化合物21，27，29，61和65表现出优异的抑制活性对ALDH1A1带IC ₅₀在低微摩尔范围内的值和对 ALDH1A2、ALDH1A3、ALDH2 和 ALDH3A1 的高选择性。此外，一项体外研究表明，所有五种化合物都有效地改善了 HepG2 细胞的葡萄糖消耗，其中10 µM 的61和65产生的葡萄糖消耗与1 mM 的阳性对照二甲双胍(Met)产生的葡萄糖消耗几乎相等。此外，61和65在人肝微粒体中表现出理想的代谢稳定性。所有这些结果表明61和65适合进一步研究。