Aminic Organoselenium Compounds as Glutathione Peroxidase Mimics and Inhibitors of Ferroptosis

Abstract The synthesis of diarylamine‐based organoselenium compounds via the nucleophilic substitution reactions has been described. Symmetrical monoselenides and diselenides were conveniently synthesized by the reduction of their corresponding selenocyanates using sodium borohydride. Selenocyanates were obtained from 2‐chloro acetamides by the nucleophilic displacement with potassium selenocyanate. Selenides were synthesized by treating the 2‐chloro acetamides with in situ generated sodium butyl selenolate as nucleophile. Further, the newly synthesized organoselenium compounds were evaluated for their glutathione peroxidase (GPx)‐like activity in thiophenol assay. This study revealed that the methoxy‐substituted organoselenium compounds showed significant effect on the GPx‐like activity. The catalytic parameters for the most efficient catalysts were also determined. The anti‐ferroptotic activity for all GPx‐mimics evaluated in a 4−OH‐tamoxifen (TAM) inducible GPx4 knockout cell line using liproxstatin as standard.