Synthesis of Various Esters of Diclofenac (NSAIDs) as Pro-Drugs and their Biological Evaluation

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) commonly used for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases suffering from several undesired side effects, the most important being gastrointestinal (GI) irritation and ulceration. The pro-drug designing is one of the several strategies used to overcome this drawback. The rationale behind the prodrug concept is to achieve temporary blockade of the free carboxylic group present in the NSAIDs till their systemic absorption. Five esters of diclofenac were synthesized with different alcohols and all the compounds were evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity by Carrageenan Induced Rat hand Paw method and surprisingly all of them showed quite appreciable anti-inflammatory activity.