Design, synthesis, and anti-aging effect evaluation of urolithin B and its amide derivatives on nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Aging is a natural process, but with the increase of people’s average life expectancy, aging has brought great economic pressure and social burden to many countries and regions. As urolithin B (UB) is a natural metabolite, it has shown positive effects in many disease studies, such as obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, learning and memory disorders, and other diseases. This inspired researchers to further study and application of UB as a potential anti-aging drug. In this study, 13 amide derivatives of UB were designed and synthesized, and their anti-aging and biosafety were verified using Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ). C. elegans is a powerful model organism for anti-aging research. Finally, our results showed that Cpd. 11 had the best anti-aging activity among the thirteen amide derivatives, and the compound had good biosafety. Therefore, Cpd. 11 has the potential to be used as an anti-aging drug and needs to be further developed and applied. Graphical abstract