The marine environment is a rich resource for discovering functional materials, and seaweed is recognized for its potential use in biology and medicine. Liquiritigenin has been isolated and identified from Sargassum pallidum. To find new anti-Alzheimer’s activity, we designed and synthesized thirty-two 7-prenyloxy-2,3-dihydroflavanone derivatives (3a-3p) and 5-hydroxy-7-prenyloxy-2,3-dihydro-flavanone derivatives (4a-4p) as cholinesterases inhibitors based on liquiritigenin as the lead compound. Inhibition screening against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) indicated that all synthesized compounds possessed potent AChE inhibitory activity and moderated to weak BuChE inhibitory activity in vitro. Kinetic studies demonstrated that compound 4o inhibited AChE via a dual binding site ability. In addition, all compounds displayed the radical scavenging effects. Finally, the molecular docking simulation of 4o in AChE active site displayed good agreement with the obtained the pharmacological results.

海洋环境是发现功能材料的丰富资源，海藻因其在生物学和医学中的潜在用途而受到认可。甘草素已从马尾藻中分离和鉴定。为了寻找新的抗阿尔茨海默病活性，我们设计并合成了 32种 7-异戊二烯氧基-2,3-二氢黄烷酮衍生物 ( 3a-3p ) 和 5-羟基-7-异戊二烯氧基-2,3-二氢黄烷酮衍生物 ( 4a- 4p）作为基于甘草素作为先导化合物的胆碱酯酶抑制剂。对乙酰胆碱酯酶 (AChE) 和丁酰胆碱酯酶 (BuChE) 的抑制筛选表明，所有合成的化合物在体外均具有有效的 AChE 抑制活性，但对 BuChE 的抑制活性减弱至较弱. 动力学研究表明，化合物 4o 通过双重结合位点能力抑制 AChE。此外，所有化合物均显示出自由基清除作用。最后，4o在AChE活性位点的分子对接模拟与所得药理结果吻合较好。