Protein coupled thionine acetate probed silica nanoparticles: An integrated laser-assisted therapeutic approach for treating cancer.

Herein, we report a multifaceted nanoformulation, developed by binding thionine acetate (TA) in silica matrix to form TA loaded silica nanoparticles (STA Nps), which were characterized using various physicochemical techniques. STA NPs were spherical shaped having size 40-50 nm and exhibited good heating efficiency, improved photostability and singlet oxygen production rate than TA alone. In PDT experiment, the rate of degradation for ABDMA was enhanced from 0.1367 min-1 for TA alone to 0.1774 min-1 for STA Nps, depicting an increase in the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation ability of STA Nps. Further, the cytotoxicity of STA Nps was investigated by carrying out the biophysical studies with Calf thymus DNA (Ct-DNA) and Human Serum Albumin (HSA). The results indicated that the binding of STA Nps to Ct-DNA causes alterations in the double helix structure of DNA and as a result, STA Nps can impart chemotherapeutic effects via targeting DNA. STA Nps showed good binding affinity with HSA without compromising the structure of HSA, which is important for STA Nps sustainable biodistribution and pharmacokinetics. Based on this study, it is suggested that because of the synergistic effect of chemo and phototherapy, STA Nps can be extensively utilized as potential candidates for treating cancer.

Synthesis, Electronic, and Antibacterial Properties of 3,7-Di(hetero)aryl-substituted Phenothiazinyl N-Propyl Trimethylammonium Salts.

In this study, a library of 3,7-di(hetero)aryl-substituted 10-(3-trimethylammoniumpropyl)10H-phenothiazine salts is prepared. These title compounds and their precursors are reversible redox systems with tunable potentials. The Hammett correlation gives a very good correlation of the first oxidation potentials with σp parameters. Furthermore, the title compounds and their precursors are blue to green-blue emissive. Screening of the salts reveals for some derivatives a distinct inhibition of several pathogenic bacterial strains (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Aconetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae) in the lower micromolar range.

The photophysical, photobiological, and DNA/HSA-binding properties of corroles containing carbazole and phenothiazine moieties.

This study characterized four corrole derivatives, namely Cbz-Cor, MetCbz-Cor, PTz-Cor, and PTzEt-Cor, examining their photophysical, electrochemical, photobiological, and biomolecule-binding properties. Experimental photophysical data of absorption and emission elements correlated with a theoretical analysis obtained through time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). As for the photophysical properties, we observed lower fluorescence quantum yields and discernible differences between the excited and ground states, as indicated by Stokes shift values. Natural Transition Orbit (NTO) plots presented high occupied molecular orbital - low unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) densities around the tetrapyrrolic macrocycle in all examples. Our findings demonstrate that corroles maintain stability in solution and offer photostability (<20 %), predominantly in DMSO(5 %)/Tris-HCl (pH 7.4) buffer solution. Furthermore, the singlet oxygen (1O2) quantum yield and log POW values underscore their potential application in photoinactivation approaches, as these corroles serve as effective ROS generators with more lipophilic features. We also evaluated their biomolecular binding capacity towards salmon sperm DNA and human serum albumin using spectroscopic techniques and molecular docking analysis for sustenance. Concerning biomolecule interaction profiles, the corrole derivatives showed a propensity for interacting in the minor grooves of the double helix DNA due to secondary forces, which were more pronounced in site III of the human serum protein.

Novel Tetracyclic Azaphenothiazines with the Quinoline Ring as New Anticancer and Antibacterial Derivatives of Chlorpromazine.

Phenothiazine derivatives are widely studied in various fields such as biology, chemistry, and medicine research because of their pharmaceutical effects. The first compound used successfully in the treatment of psychosis was a phenthiazine derivative, chlorpromazine. Apart from its activity in neurons, chlorpromazine has also been reported to display anticancer and antibacterial properties. In this study, we present the synthesis and research on the activity of A549, MDA, MiaPaCa, PC3, and HCT116 cancer cell lines and of S. aureus, S. epidermidis, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa bacterial strains against a series of new tetracyclic chlorpromazine analogues containing a quinoline scaffold in their structure instead of the benzene ring and various substituents at the thiazine nitrogen. The structure of these novel molecules has been determined by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS spectral techniques. The seven most active of the twenty-four new chlorpromazine analogues tested were selected to study the mechanism of cytotoxic action. Their ability to induce apoptosis or necrosis in cancer cells was assessed by flow cytometry analysis. The results obtained confirmed the proapoptotic activity of selected compounds, especially in terms of inducing late apoptosis or necrosis in cancer cell lines A549, MiaPaCa-2, and HCT-116. Furthermore, studies on the induction of cell cycle arrest suggest that the new chlorpromazine analogues exert antiproliferative effects by inducing cell cycle arrest in the S phase and, consequently, apoptosis.

Design, synthesis and application of dual-channel fluorescent probes for ratiometric detection of HClO and H2S based on phenothiazine coumarins.

The ubiquity of diverse material entities in environmental matrices renders the deployment of unifunctional fluorescent indicators inadequate. Consequently, this study introduces a ratiometric dual-emission fluorescent sensor (Probe CP), synthesized by conjugating phenothiazine coumarin to hydroxycoumarin through a piperazine linker for concurrent detection of HClO and H2S. Upon interaction with HClO, the phenothiazine unit's sulfur atom undergoes oxidation to sulfoxide, facilitating a shift from red to green fluorescence in a ratiometric manner. Concurrently, at the opposite terminus of Probe CP, 2,4-dinitroanisole serves as the reactive moiety for H2S recognition; it restores the blue emission characteristic of 7-hydroxycoumarin while maintaining the red fluorescence emanating from phenothiazine coumarin as an internal standard for ratio-based assessment. Exhibiting elevated specificity and sensitivity coupled with minimal detection thresholds (0.0506 µM for HClO and 1.7292 µM for H2S) alongside rapid equilibration periods (3 min for HClO and half an hour for H2S), this sensor was efficaciously employed in cellular environments and within zebrafish models as well as imaging applications pertaining to alcohol-induced hepatic injury in murine subjects.

Phenothiazine-based virtual screening, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics of new trypanothione reductase inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Phenothiazine derivatives can unselectively inhibit the trypanothione-dependent antioxidant system enzyme trypanothione reductase (TR). A virtual screening of 2163 phenothiazine derivatives from the ZINC15 and PubChem databases docked on the active site of T. cruzi TR showed that 285 compounds have higher affinity than the natural ligand trypanothione disulfide. 244 compounds showed higher affinity toward the parasite's enzyme than to its human homolog glutathione reductase. Protein-ligand interaction profiling predicted that the main interactions for the top scored compounds were with residues important for trypanothione disulfide binding: Phe396, Pro398, Leu399, His461, Glu466, and Glu467, particularly His461, which participates in catalysis. Two compounds with the desired profiles, ZINC1033681 (Zn_C687) and ZINC10213096 (Zn_C216), decreased parasite growth by 20 % and 50 %, respectively. They behaved as mixed-type inhibitors of recombinant TR, with Ki values of 59 and 47 µM, respectively. This study provides a further understanding of the potential of phenothiazine derivatives as TR inhibitors.

Antitumor Activity of PEGylated and TEGylated Phenothiazine Derivatives: Structure-Activity Relationship.

The paper aims to investigate the antitumor activity of a series of phenothiazine derivatives in order to establish a structure-antitumor activity relationship. To this end, PEGylated and TEGylated phenothiazine have been functionalized with formyl units and further with sulfonamide units via dynamic imine bonds. Their antitumor activity was monitored in vitro against seven human tumors cell lines and a mouse one compared to a human normal cell line by MTS assay. In order to find the potential influence of different building blocks on antitumor activity, the antioxidant activity, the ability to inhibit farnesyltransferase and the capacity to bind amino acids relevant for tumor cell growth were investigated as well. It was established that different building blocks conferred different functionalities, inducing specific antitumor activity against the tumor cells.

Dynamic interplay between thionine and DNA under carbon ion irradiation: a real-time first-principles study.

Understanding the interactions between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and photosensitizer under ion irradiation benefits the development of aptasensors, DNA biosensors and cancer diagnosis. Using real-time time-depended density functional theory, by simulating high-energy C ion passing through DNA with poly(dG)·poly(dC) sequence and that with embedded thionine (3,7-diamino-5-phenothiazinium, TH), we compared the electronic stopping power (ESP), evolution of the structure and charge, and absorption spectrum. TH inserting leads the increase in space charge density, a larger electron de-excitation and a larger ESP, but the speed corresponding to the maximum ESP is almost same. When C ion passes through TH-DNA, the structure of TH slightly changes and there still exists noncovalent interaction between TH and DNA, but the absorption coefficient depends on the electron occupied state of TH when the ion passes through. These results indicate that at low radiation doses, TH still can be a DNA detector, although its response wavelength and intensity have been slightly changed, and provide a theoretical reference to improve the possible application of phenothiazine dye in DNA biosensor under ion irradiation.

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of Selected Phenothiazines and Phenazines Rationalized Based on DFT Calculation.

Two unique structures were isolated from the phosphorylation reaction of 10H-phenothiazine. The 5,5-dimethyl-2-(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)-1,3,2-dioxaphosphinane 2-oxide (2a) illustrates the product of N-phosphorylation of phenothiazine. Moreover, a potential product of 2a instability, a thiophosphoric acid 2b, was successfully isolated and structurally characterized. Molecule 2a, similarly to sulfoxide derivative 3, possesses interesting phosphorescence properties due to the presence of d-pπ bonds. The X-ray, NMR, and DFT computational studies indicate that compound 2a exhibits an anomeric effect. Additionally, the syntheses of selected symmetrical and unsymmetrical pyridine-embedded phenazines were elaborated. To compare the influence of phosphorus and sulfur atoms on the structural characteristics of 10H-phenothiazine derivatives, the high-quality crystals of (4a,12a-dihydro-12H-benzo[5,6][1,4]thiazino[2,3-b]quinoxalin-12-yl)(phenyl)methanone (1) and selected phenazines 5,12-diisopropyl-3,10-dimethyldipyrido[3,2-a:3',2'-h]phenazine (5) and 5-isopropyl-N,N,3-trimethylpyrido[3,2-a]phenazin-10-amine (6a) were obtained. The structures of molecules 1, 2a, 2-mercapto-5,5-dimethyl-1,3,2-dioxaphosphinane 2-oxide (2b), 3,7-dinitro-10H-phenothiazine 5-oxide (3), 5 and 6a were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements.

Towards Asymmetrical Methylene Blue Analogues: Synthesis and Reactivity of 3-N'-Arylaminophenothiazines.

The search for new ways to obtain analogues of the well-known Methylene Blue dye is an important synthetic task. Herein, we proposed and developed an approach to the synthesis of 3-N'-arylaminophenothiazines and asymmetrical 3,7-di(N'-arylamino)phenothiazines. This approach included the optimization of synthetic strategy by quantification analysis of the positive charge distribution in the cation of 3-N'-arylaminophenothiazine derivative. The obtained experimental data are confirmed by DFT studies. Two synthetic routes for asymmetrical phenothiazine diarylamino derivatives were suggested and verified. The developed convenient and versatile synthetic approach makes it easy to obtain aromatic Methylene Blue isostructural analogues with various substituents. As a result, a series of novel 3-N'-arylaminophenothiazines and asymmetrical 3,7-di(N'-arylamino)phenothiazines containing ester, tert-butoxycarbonyl, sulfonic acid, hydroxyl and amine groups were obtained in high yields.

Development of Phenothiazine Hybrids with Potential Medicinal Interest: A Review.

The molecular hybridization approach has been used to develop compounds with improved efficacy by combining two or more pharmacophores of bioactive scaffolds. In this context, hybridization of various relevant pharmacophores with phenothiazine derivatives has resulted in pertinent compounds with diverse biological activities, interacting with specific or multiple targets. In fact, the development of new drugs or drug candidates based on phenothiazine system has been a promising approach due to the diverse activities associated with this tricyclic system, traditionally present in compounds with antipsychotic, antihistaminic and antimuscarinic effects. Actually, the pharmacological actions of phenothiazine hybrids include promising antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, analgesic and multi-drug resistance reversal properties. The present review summarizes the progress in the development of phenothiazine hybrids and their biological activity.

Controllable signal molecule release from Au NP-gated MSNs for photocathodic detection of ultralow level AßO.

By integrating a target-responsive MSN-based controlled release system with a sensitization-SPR co-enhanced thionine/MoS2 QDs/Cu NWs photocathode, a highly sensitive split-type PEC aptasensing platform for AßO detection in blood is constructed. Ultralow detection limit (2.1 fM) and high selectivity show great potential in early AD diagnosis.

Phenothiazine, anthraquinone and related tricyclic derivatives as inhibitors of monoamine oxidase.

Inhibitors of the monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes are important agents for the treatment of central nervous system disorders and have established roles in the therapy of neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression and in the neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson's disease. A number of good potency MAO inhibitors consist of tricyclic ring systems as exemplified by the structures of harmine and the phenothiazine compound methylene blue. In an attempt to discover novel MAO inhibitors, 30 phenothiazine, anthraquinone and related tricyclic derivatives were selected and evaluated as potential inhibitors of human MAO-A and MAO-B. The results show that, in general, the tricyclic compounds are specific inhibitors of MAO-A over the MAO-B isoform. Quinizarin (IC50 = 0.065 µM), 2-chloro-7-methoxy-10H-phenothiazine (IC50 = 0.576 µM) and xanthone (IC50 = 0.623 µM) proved to be the most potent MAO-A inhibitors, while the most potent MAO-B inhibition was recorded with 2-chloro-7-methoxy-10H-phenothiazine (IC50 = 1.34 µM), 1,2-diaminoanthraquinone (IC50 = 2.41 µM) and emodin (IC50 = 3.24 µM). These compounds may undergo further preclinical evaluation and development, and may also serve as potential lead compounds for the future design of MAO inhibitors.

Towards Property Profiling: SYNTHESIS and SAR Probing of New Tetracyclic Diazaphenothiazine Analogues.

A series of new tertiary phenothiazine derivatives containing a quinoline and a pyridine fragment was synthesized by the reaction of 1-methyl-3-benzoylthio-4-butylthioquinolinium chloride with 3-aminopyridine derivatives bearing various substituents on the pyridine ring. The direction and mechanism of the cyclization reaction of intermediates with the structure of 1-methyl-4-(3-pyridyl)aminoquinolinium-3-thiolate was related to the substituents in the 2- and 4-pyridine position. The structures of the compounds were analyzed using 1H, 13C NMR (COSY, HSQC, HMBC) and X-ray analysis, respectively. Moreover, the antiproliferative activity against tumor cells (A549, T47D, SNB-19) and a normal cell line (NHDF) was tested. The antibacterial screening of all the compounds was conducted against the reference and quality control strain Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, three clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). In silico computation of the intermolecular similarity was performed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) on the pool of structure/property-related descriptors calculated for the novel tetracyclic diazaphenothiazine derivatives. The distance-oriented property evaluation was correlated with the experimental anticancer activities and empirical lipophilicity as well. The quantitative shape-based comparison was conducted using the CoMSA method in order to indicate the potentially valid steric, electronic and lipophilic properties. Finally, the numerical sampling of similarity-related activity landscape (SALI) provided a subtle picture of the SAR trends.

Copper(II)-mediated C-H sulphenylation or selenylation of tryptophan enabling macrocyclization of peptides.

Cu(II)-mediated C-H sulphenylation or selenylation of Trp indole by a derivative of cysteine or selenocysteine enables access to the tryptathionine unit or its selenium congener. The mechanism of these protocols, which allow macrocyclization of Trp-containing peptides, has been studied.

Prediction of power conversion efficiency of phenothiazine-based dye-sensitized solar cells using Monte Carlo method with index of ideality of correlation.

Simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES) notation and inbuilt Monte Carlo algorithm of CORAL software were employed to construct generative and prediction QSPR models for the analysis of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 215 phenothiazine derivatives. The dataset was divided into four splits and each split was further divided into four sets. A hybrid descriptor, a combination of SMILES and hydrogen suppressed graph (HSG), was employed to build reliable and robust QSPR models. The role of the index of ideality of correlation (IIC) was also studied in depth. We performed a comparative study to predict PCE using two target functions (TF1 without IIC and TF2 with IIC). Eight QSPR models were developed and the models developed with TF2 was shown robust and reliable. The QSPR model generated from split 4 was considered a leading model. The different statistical benchmarks were computed for the lead model and these were rtraining set2=0.7784; rinvisible training set2=0.7955; rcalibration set2=0.7738; rvalidation set2=0.7506; Qtraining set2=0.7691; Qinvisible training set2=0.7850; Qcalibration set2=0.7501;  Qvalidation set2=0.7085; IICtraining set = 0.8590; IICinvisible training set = 0.8297; IICcalibration set = 0.8796; IICvalidation set = 0.8293, etc. The promoters of increase and decrease of endpoint PCE were also extracted.

Radical Scavenging Potential of the Phenothiazine Scaffold: A Computational Analysis.

The reactivity of phenothiazine (PS), phenoselenazine (PSE), and phenotellurazine (PTE) with different reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been studied using density functional theory (DFT) in combination with the QM-ORSA (Quantum Mechanics-based Test for Overall Free Radical Scavenging Activity) protocol for an accurate kinetic rate calculation. Four radical scavenging mechanisms have been screened, namely hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), radical adduct formation (RAF), single electron transfer (SET), and the direct oxidation of the chalcogen atom. The chosen ROS are HO. , HOO. , and CH3 OO. . PS, PSE, and PTE exhibit an excellent antioxidant activity in water regardless of the ROS due to their characteristic diffusion-controlled regime processes. For the HO. radical, the primary active reaction mechanism is, for all antioxidants, RAF. But, for HOO. and CH3 OO. , the dominant mechanism strongly depends on the antioxidant: HAT for PS and PSE, and SET for PTE. The scavenging efficiency decreases dramatically in lipid environment and remains only significant (via RAF) for the most reactive radical (HO. ). Therefore, PS, PSE, and PTE are excellent antioxidant molecules, especially in aqueous, physiological environments where they are active against a broad spectrum of harmful radicals. There is no advantage or significant difference in the scavenging efficiency when changing the chalcogen since the reactivity mainly derives from the amino hydrogen and the aromatic sites.

Electrochemical Microfluidic Paper-Based Aptasensor Platform Based on a Biotin-Streptavidin System for Label-Free Detection of Biomarkers.

Timely and rapid detection of biomarkers is extremely important for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, going to the hospital to test biomarkers is the most common way. People need to spend a lot of money and time on various tests for potential disease detection. To make the detection more convenient and affordable, we propose a paper-based aptasensor platform in this work. This device is based on a cellulose paper, on which a three-electrode system and microfluidic channels are fabricated. Meanwhile, novel nanomaterials consisting of amino redox graphene/thionine/streptavidin-modified gold nanoparticles/chitosan are synthesized and modified on the working electrode of the device. Through the biotin-streptavidin system, the aptamer whose 5'end is modified with biotin can be firmly immobilized on the electrode. The detection principle is that the current generated by the nanomaterials decreases proportionally to the concentration of targets owing to the combination of the biomarker and its aptamer. 17ß-Estradiol (17ß-E2), as one of the widely used diagnostic biomarkers of various clinical conditions, is adopted for verifying the performance of the platform. The experimental results demonstrated that this device enables the determination of 17ß-E2 in a wide linear range of concentrations of 10 pg mL-1 to 100 ng mL-1 and the limit of detection is 10 pg mL-1 (S/N = 3). Moreover, it enables the detection of targets in clinical serum samples, demonstrating its potential to be a disposable and convenient integrated platform for detecting various biomarkers.

Vacancy Engineering to Regulate Photocatalytic Activity of Polymer Photosensitizers for Amplifying Photodynamic Therapy against Hypoxic Tumors.

Polymer photosensitizers (PPSs) with the distinctive properties of good light-harvesting capability, high photostability, and excellent tumor retention effects have aroused great research interest in photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, their potential translation into clinic was often constrained by the hypoxic nature of tumor microenvironment, the aggregation-caused reduced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the tedious procedure of manufacture. As a powerful and versatile strategy, vacancy engineering possesses the unique capability to effectively improve the photogenerated electron efficiency of nanomaterials for high-performance O2 and ROS production. Herein, by introducing vacancy engineering into the design of PPSs for PDT for the first time, we synthesized a novel PPS of Au-decorated polythionine (PTh) nanoconstructs (PTh@Au NCs) with the unique integrated features of distinguished O2 self-evolving function and highly efficient ROS generation for achieving the greatly enhanced PDT efficacy toward hypoxic tumor both in vitro and in vivo. The incorporation of Au into PTh leads to the special PTh-Au heterostructure-induced sulfur vacancies in PTh@Au NCs, which results in an efficient electron-hole separation performance and also plays a key role in a long lifetime of free electrons and holes. Accordingly, an ∼2- to 3-fold ROS generation and an ∼1.5-fold increase of O2 self-supply than the pure PTh nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained even under hypoxic conditions upon exposure to 650 nm light. By combining such superior ROS generation and O2 self-supply performances with the outstanding cellular internalization and tumor accumulation capacities, an advanced antitumor effect with the achievement of almost complete hypoxic tumor elimination in vivo or 88% cell destruction in vitro was acquired by the PTh@Au NCs. In addition, the distinctive facile one-step redox strategy for PTh@Au NCs synthesis compared to the reported PPSs for PDT also makes it beneficial for potential practical application. The first introduction of vacancy engineering concept into PPSs in the field of PDT proposed in this work offers a new strategy for the development and design highly efficient PPSs for PDT applications.

Recent Trends in the Design, Synthesis, Spectroscopic Behavior, and Applications of Benzazole-Based Molecules with Solid-State Luminescence Enhancement Properties.

Molecules that exhibit solid-state luminescence enhancement, i.e. the rare property to be more strongly emissive in the solid state than in solution, find an increasing number of applications in the fields of optoelectronic and nanophotonic devices, sensors, security papers, imaging, and theranostics. Benzazole (BZ) heterocycles are of particular value in this context. The simple enlargement of their π-electron system using a -C=C-Ar or -N=C-Ar moiety is enough for intrinsic solid-state luminescence enhancement (SLE) properties to appear. Their association with a variety of polyaromatic motifs leads to SLE-active molecules that frequently display attractive electroluminescent properties and are sensitive to mechanical stimuli. The excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process that takes place in some hydroxy derivatives reinforces the SLE effect and enables the development of new sensors based on a protection/deprotection strategy. BZ may also be incorporated into frameworks that are prototypical aggregation-induced enhancement (AIE) luminogens, such as the popular tetraphenylethene (TPE), leading to materials with excellent optical and electroluminescent performance. This review encompasses the various ways to use BZ units in SLE systems. It underlines the significant progresses recently made in the understanding of the photophysical mechanisms involved. A brief overview of the synthesis shows that BZ units are robust building blocks, easily incorporated into a variety of structures. Generally speaking, we try to show how these small heterocycles may offer advantages for the design of increasingly efficient luminescent materials.