<p class="lead">In this study, puerarin derivatives were designed by adding an active acetonitrile group that inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in order to enhance the anti-vascular dementia drug activity. The acetonitrile group was linked to puerarin at the 7/4 'positions by a phenolic hydroxyl to give 7-mono-and 7, 4' di-substituted derivatives of puerarin. These structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and MS spectroscopy. We compared the affinity of puerarin derivatives

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... rarin derivatives and puerarin for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) using molecular docking. In addition, the anti-vascular dementia activity of the developed puerarin derivatives was studied by water maze, novel object recognition, and the determination of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) enzyme activity at the cerebral cortex of mice. Experimental results showed that the puerarin derivatives have a good affinity for COX-2 with therapeutic effects against vascular dementia. The results of this study suggest that the protective effects of the puerarin derivatives against vascular dementia may be related to suppression of inflammation associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury through inhibition of COX-2.</p>