Dictamnine derivatives as a novel family of dual inhibitors for cholinesterase and β-amyloid aggregation

•Fifteen novel derivatives were designed and synthesized based on dictamnine scaffold.•Compound 7k exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE with IC50 values of 0.40 μM and 0.63 μM, respectively.•Compound 7k had a mixed-type inhibition for AChE and showed potent inhibitory activity of AChE induced Aβ aggregation.•Compound 7k demonstrated low cytotoxicity and promising predicted lipophilicity and BBB permeation properties.