Lipophilic amines as potent inhibitors of N-acylethanolamine-hydrolyzing acid amidase

N-Acylethanolamines (NAEs) including N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide) and N-palmitoylethanolamine are endogenous lipid mediators. These molecules are degraded to the corresponding fatty acids and ethanolamine by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) or NAE-hydrolyzing acid amidase (NAAA). Lipophilic amines, especially pentadecylamine (2c) and tridecyl 2-aminoacetate (11b), were found to exhibit potent NAAA inhibitory activities (IC50 = 5.7 and 11.8 μM), with much weaker effects on FAAH. These simple structures would provide a scaffold for further improvement in NAAA inhibitory activity.