The products of the
Friedlander reaction, i.e., 1,8-naphthyridines,
have far-reaching impacts in materials science, chemical biology,
and medicine. The reported synthetic methodologies elegantly orchestrate
the diverse synthetic routes of naphthyridines but require harsh reaction
conditions, organic solvents, and expensive metal catalysts. Here,
we introduce gram-scale synthesis of 1,8-naphthyridines in water using
an inexpensive and biocompatible ionic liquid (IL) as a catalyst.
This is the first-ever report on the synthesis of naphthyridines in
water. This is a one-step reaction, and the product separation is
relatively easy. The choline hydroxide (ChOH) is used as a metal-free,
nontoxic, and water-soluble catalyst. In comparison to other catalysts
reported in the literature, ChOH has the advantage of forming an additional
hydrogen bond with the reactants, which is the vital step for the
reaction to happen in water. Density functional theory (DFT) and noncovalent
interaction (NCI) plot index analysis provide the plausible reaction
mechanism for the catalytic cycle and confirm that hydrogen bonds
with the IL catalyst are pivotal to facilitate the reaction. Molecular
docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are also performed
to demonstrate the potentialities of the newly synthesized products
as drugs. Through MD simulations, it was established that the tetrahydropyrido
derivative of naphthyridine (10j) binds to the active
sites of the ts3 human serotonin transporter (hSERT) (PDB ID: 6AWO) without perturbing
the secondary structure, suggesting that 10j can be a
potential preclinical drug candidate for hSERT inhibition and depression
treatment.