Abstract:By imitating the scaffold of lithocholic acid (LCA), a natural steroidal compound displaying Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitory activity, a series of stilbene derivatives containing phenyl-substituted isoxazoles were designed and synthesized. The structures of the title compounds were confirmed by 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR and HRMS. Activities of the title compounds were evaluated on PTP1B and the homologous enzyme TCPTP by using a colorimetric assay. Most of the target compounds had good activities against PTP1B. Among them, compound 29 (IC 50 = 0.91 ± 0.33 µM), characterized by a 5-(2,3-dichlorophenyl) isoxazole moiety, exhibited an activity about 14-fold higher than the lead compound LCA and a 4.2-fold selectivity over TCPTP. Compound 29 was identified as a competitive inhibitor of PTP1B with a K i value of 0.78 µM in enzyme kinetic studies.