Synthesis, biological evaluation, and molecular modeling investigation of chiral 2-(4-chloro-phenoxy)-3-phenyl-propanoic acid derivatives with PPARα and PPARγ agonist activity Original Research Article

PPARs are ligand-activated transcription factors that govern lipid and glucose homeostasis and play a central role in cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. Herein, we present screening results for a series of chiral 2-(4-chloro-phenoxy)-3-phenyl-propanoic acid derivatives, some of which are potent PPARγ agonists as well as PPARα agonists. To investigate the binding modes of the most interesting derivatives into the PPARα and PPARγ binding clefts and evaluate their agonist activity, docking experiments, molecular dynamics simulations, and MM–PBSA analysis were performed.