Separation of α-glucosidase-inhibitory and liver X receptor-antagonistic activities of phenethylphenyl phthalimide analogs and generation of LXRα-selective antagonists Original Research Article

Liver X receptor (LXR) α/β dual agonists are candidate medicaments for the treatment of metabolic syndrome, because their biological actions include increasing cholesterol efflux mediated by LXRβ. However, their clinical application is currently limited by their enhancing effect on triglyceride (TG) synthesis mediated by LXRα. Combination of an LXRα-selective antagonist with an LXRα/β dual agonist may overcome this disadvantage. In the present work, structural development studies of phenethylphenyl phthalimide 9, which possesses LXRα/β dual-antagonistic activity and α-glucosidase-inhibitory activity, led to the LXRα-selective antagonist 23f. Specific α-glucosidase inhibitors were also obtained.