Mitochondrial complex II and complex III are two promising targets for the development of numerous pharmaceuticals and pesticides. Although tremendous inhibitors of either complex II or complex III were identified, compounds which are capable of prohibiting the activities of both complexes have been rarely reported. Since multi-target drugs can interact with several drug targets simultaneously, we were keen on discovering new and potent dual-target inhibitors of both complex II and complex III. Therefore, a new series of structurally simplified sulfonamides bearing a diaryl ether scaffold were designed and synthesized in this paper. Afterwards, the biological activities of the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated. The results implied that several compounds demonstrated outstanding potency against succinate-cytochrome c reductase (SCR, a mixture of complex II and complex III). Further studies confirmed that N-(3,5-Dichloro-4-(2,4,6-trichlorophenoxy)phenyl)benzenesulfonamide (3f), a representative compound herein, was identified as a dual-target inhibitor of both complexes. Furthermore, computational simulations were also performed to have a better understanding about binding of 3f to the enzyme complexes, which concluded that 3f should bind to complex II and the Qo site of complex III. Consequently, we harbor the idea that this work can be beneficial for the synthesis and discovery of more dual- or multi-target inhibitors.

中文翻译：

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N-（3,5-二氯-4-（2,4,6-三氯苯氧基）苯基）苯磺酰胺：通过结构简化，线粒体复合物II和复合物III的新型双靶抑制剂。

线粒体复合物II和复合物III是开发许多药物和农药的两个有希望的目标。尽管鉴定了复合物II或复合物III的巨大抑制剂，但很少报道能够抑制两种复合物活性的化合物。由于多靶标药物可以同时与多个药物靶标相互作用，因此我们渴望发现复合物II和复合物III的新型有效双靶标抑制剂。因此，本文设计并合成了一系列带有二芳基醚支架的结构简化的磺酰胺。之后，评估了新合成的化合物的生物活性。结果表明，几种化合物对琥珀酸-细胞色素c还原酶（SCR，配合物II和配合物III的混合物）。进一步的研究证实，本文中的代表性化合物N-（3,5-二氯-4-（2,4,6-三氯苯氧基）苯基）苯磺酰胺（3f）被鉴定为两种复合物的双重靶标抑制剂。此外，还进行了计算机模拟，以更好地了解3f与酶复合物的结合，得出的结论是3f应与复合物II和复合物III的Qo位点结合。因此，我们怀有这样的想法：这项工作对于合成和发现更多的双靶标或多靶标抑制剂可能是有益的。还进行了计算机模拟，以更好地了解3f与酶复合物的结合，得出的结论是3f应与复合物II和复合物III的Qo位点结合。因此，我们怀有这样的想法：这项工作对于合成和发现更多的双靶标或多靶标抑制剂可能是有益的。还进行了计算机模拟，以更好地了解3f与酶复合物的结合，得出的结论是3f应与复合物II和复合物III的Qo位点结合。因此，我们怀有这样的想法：这项工作对于合成和发现更多的双靶标或多靶标抑制剂可能是有益的。