Design and synthesis of new dihydropyrimidine/sulphonamide hybrids as promising anti-inflammatory agents via dual mPGES-1/5-LOX inhibition.

A novel series of dihydropyrimidine/sulphonamide hybrids 3a-j with anti-inflammatory properties have been developed and tested as dual mPGES-1/5-LOX inhibitors. In vitro assay, results showed that compounds 3c, 3e, 3h, and 3j were the most effective dual inhibitors of mPGES-1 and 5-LOX activities. Compound 3j was the most potent dual inhibitor with IC50 values of 0.92 µM and 1.98 µM, respectively. In vivo, anti-inflammatory studies demonstrated that compounds 3c, 3e, 3h, and 3e had considerable anti-inflammatory activity, with EI% ranging from 29% to 71%. Compounds 3e and 3j were equivalent to celecoxib after the first hour but exhibited stronger anti-inflammatory effects than celecoxib after the third and fifth hours. Moreover, compounds 3e and 3j significantly reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (PGE2, TNF-α, and IL-6) with gastrointestinal safety profiles. Molecular docking simulations explored the most potent derivatives' binding affinities and interaction patterns within mPGES-1 and 5-LOX active sites. This study disclosed that compound 3j is a promising anti-inflammatory lead with dual mPGES-1/5-LOX inhibition that deserves further preclinical investigation.

Synthesis and Structure Determination of Substituted Thiazole Derivatives as EGFR/BRAFV600E Dual Inhibitors Endowed with Antiproliferative Activity.

2,3,4-trisubstituted thiazoles 3a-i, having a methyl group in position four, were synthesized by the reaction of 1,4-disubstituted thiosemicarbazides with chloroacetone in ethyl acetate/Et3N at room temperature or in ethanol under reflux. The structures of new compounds were determined using NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Moreover, the structure of compound 3a was unambiguously confirmed with X-ray analysis. The cell viability assay of 3a-i at 50 µM was greater than 87%, and none of the tested substances were cytotoxic. Compounds 3a-i demonstrated good antiproliferative activity, with GI50 values ranging from 37 to 86 nM against the four tested human cancer cell lines, compared to the reference erlotinib, which had a GI50 value of 33 nM. The most potent derivatives were found to be compounds 3a, 3c, 3d, and 3f, with GI50 values ranging from 37 nM to 54 nM. The EGFR-TK and BRAFV600E inhibitory assays' results matched the antiproliferative assay's results, with the most potent derivatives, as antiproliferative agents, also being the most potent EGFR and BRAFV600E inhibitors. The docking computations were employed to investigate the docking modes and scores of compounds 3a, 3c, 3d, and 3f toward BRAFV600E and EGFR. Docking computations demonstrated the good affinity of compound 3f against BRAFV600E and EGFR, with values of -8.7 and -8.5 kcal/mol, respectively.

Synthesis of novel amidines via one-pot three component reactions: Selective topoisomerase I inhibitors with antiproliferative properties.

Novel series of amidines were synthesized via the interaction between alicyclic amines, cyclic ketones, and a highly electrophilic 4-azidoquinolin-2(1H)-ones without any catalyst or additive. All the obtained products were elucidated based on NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. The reaction conditions were optimized using cyclohexanone (2), piperidine (3a), and 4-azido-quinolin-2(1H)-one (1a) under an air atmosphere. The new compounds 4a-l and 5a-c were tested for antiproliferative activity against four cancer cell lines using doxorubicin as a reference drug. The most potent derivatives were compounds 4b, 4d, 4e, 4i, and 5c, with GI50 ranging from 1.00 µM to 1.50 µM. Compound 5c was the most effective derivative against the four cancer cell lines, outperforming doxorubicin. The compounds 4b, 4d, 4e, 4i, and 5c were studied further as topoisomerase I and IIα inhibitors. The compounds tested showed selective inhibition of topo I over topo IIα. Finally, docking studies explain why these compounds prefer topo I over topo IIα.

Fluorescent annulated imidazo[4,5-c]isoquinolines via a GBB-3CR/imidoylation sequence - DNA-interactions in pUC-19 gel electrophoresis mobility shift assay.

Herein we report the development of a sequential synthesis route towards annulated imidazo[4,5-c]isoquinolines comprising a GBB-3CR, followed by an intramolecular imidoylative cyclisation. X-Ray crystallography revealed a flat 3D structure of the obtained polyheterocycles. Thus, we evaluated their interactions with double-stranded DNA by establishing a pUC-19 plasmid-based gel electrophoresis mobility shift assay, revealing a stabilising effect on ds-DNA against strand-break inducing conditions.

A direct access to heterobimetallic complexes by roll-over cyclometallation.

Complexes of the type [Cp*Ir(N,N')Cl]+ (N,N' = 2-(2-dialkylaminopyrimidin-4-yl)pyrimidine) can undergo roll-over cyclometallation leading to a novel N,N'-donor site. Following this strategy heterobimetallic complexes including iridium(iii) and a Group X metal centre in the oxidation state +II were achieved.

Photophysical dynamics of a binuclear Cu(i)-emitter on the fs to µs timescale, in solid phase and in solution.

Understanding subtle aspects of photophysical behavior is the key to design and synthesize new and improved luminescent materials. We contribute to this with an in-depth photophysical characterization of the binuclear copper complex Cu(i)-NHetPHOS-tris-m-tolylphosphine (1), a member of a recently established emitter class for ultra-efficient, printed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). To this end we studied 1 in solution and in solid form, i.e. neat film and KBr-pellet, by means of femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption/reflectivity, time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC), and nanosecond time-resolved step-scan FTIR spectroscopy. Using these methods, we explore the photoinduced dynamics from ultrafast Franck-Condon state deactivation until the decay of the luminescent states. Upon photoexcitation, we observed multiexponential dynamics in both solution (e.g. acetonitrile 0.8 ps, 59 ps, 3 ns, 11-13 ns) and in solid state (e.g. neat film 0.3 ps, 35 ps, 670 ps, 0.5-1 µs, 3.5-4.5 µs) with four to five time-constants that significantly depend on the type of sample. Quantum chemical calculations at the DFT level in combination with step-scan vibrational spectroscopy provided structural information about the electronic ground state S0 and the lowest lying excited state T1, and show that the latter is populated within 1 µs after photoexcitation. We found thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) for this complex, which has been suggested to be the cause for its high efficiency in printed OLED devices. The results suggest that non-radiative processes, lowering the luminescence quantum yield in solution, are active on the ns to µs timescale.

Synthesis of aminopyrazoles from sydnones and ynamides.

Aminopyrazoles are prepared from readily accessible sydnones and sulfonyl ynamides using either a copper-mediated sydnone alkyne cycloaddition (CuSAC) or in situ generated strained cyclic ynamides.

Electrochemical investigation of covalently post-synthetic modified SURGEL coatings.

Thiol-yne click chemistry is used to covalently link a ferrocenyl derivative to the pore walls of a fully organic porous polymer coating (SURGEL). By cyclic voltammetry, it is demonstrated that the ferrocene bound to the SURGEL via a flexible alkyl linker can be reversibly reduced and oxidised. Surprisingly, when adding ferrocene as an electrolyte, a Nernstian diffusion limited process is observed. We explain this observation in terms of a high permeability of the SURGELs for ferrocene after the post synthetic modification.

Electrophilic cyclization of aryldiacetylenes in the synthesis of functionalized enediynes fused to a heterocyclic core.

An efficient strategy for the synthesis of asymmetrically substituted enediynes fused to benzothiophene, benzofuran, and indole was developed. The proposed approach is based on the electrophilic cyclization of diacetylenes and Sonogashira coupling. Thus, iodocyclization of readily available ortho-functionalized (buta-1,3-diynyl)arenes was used as a direct way for the synthesis of 2-ethynyl-3-iodoheteroindenes. These substrates and their modified derivatives were easily converted by Sonogashira coupling with acetylenes to a variety of asymmetrically substituted acyclic enediynes fused to heterocycles. The tolerance of the developed methodology to a variety of functional groups is a great advantage in the synthesis of macrocyclic enediyne systems fused to a heterocyclic core. Synthesis of indole-fused 12-membered macrocyclic dienediyne was achieved using ring-closing metathesis as a key step.

Solid-supported odorless reagents for the dithioacetalization of aldehydes and ketones.

A solid supported, odorless reagent for the dithioacetalization of aldehydes and ketones has been developed. The new reagent provides the dimercaptoalkane equivalent in combination with stoichiometric amounts of immobilized acid and enables the formation of dithianes and dithiolanes from aldehydes without any additives in good to very good yields with high purities. The reaction is chemoselective for aldehydes, but ketones can be reacted to the corresponding dithioketals if an additional Lewis acid such as BF3 is added.

Cleavable surfactants to tune the stability of W/O miniemulsions.

Recently, there has been growing interest towards the formation and use of miniemulsions as nanoreactors for polymerization and precipitation reactions. Regarding precipitation reactions in miniemulsions, emulsifiers are required that on the one hand stabilize droplets in a size range <1 µm and on the other hand allow break-up of the miniemulsion into its two initial phases after particle synthesis for purification reasons. In this work we report the synthesis and emulsifying abilities of low-mass cleavable emulsifiers based on monoesters of oxalic and malonic acids for the stabilization of water-in-oil miniemulsions. A systematic screening of compounds with respect to different polar groups as well as length, molecular branching and type of alkyl chains and their suitability as emulsifiers was performed. Our results show that the size of droplets stabilized by these emulsifiers strongly depends on the nature of the polar group and the length of the lipophilic chain. The targeted phase separation of the emulsions was triggered by the addition of a base cleaving the emulsifiers.

Biocatalytic production of tetrahydroisoquinolines.

The promiscuity of the enzyme norcoclaurine synthase is described. This biocatalyst yielded a diverse array of substituted tetrahydroisoquinolines by cyclizing dopamine with various acetaldehydes in a Pictet-Spengler reaction. This enzymatic reaction may provide a biocatalytic route to a range of tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids.

NMR-spectroscopic and solid-state investigations of cometal-free asymmetric conjugate addition: a dinuclear paracyclophaneimine zinc methyl complex.

We present herein the first indications for dimeric structures in cometal-free asymmetric conjugate addition reactions of dialkylzinc reagents with aldehydes. These are revealed by nonlinear effect (NLE) studies. A monomer-dimer equilibrium can be assumed which explains the increase of the ee value in the product over time. Also, DOSY NMR spectroscopic measurements indicate the existence of the catalyst as [LZnEt](n) complexes in solution. Additionally, the first X-ray structure of a zinc complex with a [2.2]paracyclophane ligand was determined. The structures of the zinc complexes are supported by DFT calculations of monomeric and dimeric species.

Natural product-like and other biologically active heterocyclic libraries using solid-phase techniques in the post-genomic era.

High-throughput technologies allow the selection of new biological targets for drug discovery in the post-genomic era. These tools increase the need of new methods to rapidly obtain potent small molecules and natural products to discover new lead structures. In particular, the solid-phase synthesis offers a great potential to obtain large compound sets.

[2,2]paracyclophane-based N,O-ligands in alkenylzinc additions to aldehydes.

[reaction: see text] The application of planar and central chiral [2,2]paracyclophane-based N,O-ligands in asymmetric alkenylzinc additions to various aldehydes is described, which gives rise to very high ee's especially for difficult substrates. A fine-tuning of the alkenylzinc species by employing different transmetalation reagents is reported, allowing control of the steric bulk of the alkenylzinc species and thus the selectivity of the catalysis.

A Novel Hydrazine Linker Resin and Its Application for the Solid-Phase Synthesis of alpha-Branched Primary Amines.

A novel hydrazine linker resin for solid-phase organic synthesis has been developed. Starting from Merrifield resin, the new N-butyl-N-methylpolystyrene-hydrazine linker is prepared in three steps. Polymer-supported hydrazones, readily prepared from aldehydes and the hydrazine resin, react with alkyl- and arylorganolithium reagents under 1,2-addition to the C-N double bond to afford the corresponding hydrazines. Release from solid support was achieved by reductive N-N bond cleavage using the borane-tetrahydrofuran complex. The resulting alpha-branched primary amines were protected as their amides or carbamates, respectively, and, after purification, were obtained in good overall yields and in high purity (12 examples).

A novel solid-phase synthesis of highly diverse guanidines: reactions of primary amines attached to the T2 linker.

The reaction of primary amines with the T2 diazonium resin generates polymer-bound triazenes, which can in turn be acylated by the addition of isothiocyanate. The formed thioureas are readily transformed into the corresponding guanidines by the reaction with amines in the presence of mercury(II) oxide, tosyl chloride, or silver nitrate. This reaction sequence furnishes trisubstituted guanidines that are potentially useful pharmacophores.

Traceless linkers--only disappearing links in solid-phase organic synthesis?

Traceless linkers, which enable the attachment of arenes and alkanes to a polymeric support, have received increased attention in recent years. These anchoring groups allow chemical transformations on the polymer-bound molecules, which can be cleaved from the resin leaving no residual functionality to bias the library. Various approaches based on different Group 14 to Group 16 heteroatoms have been developed in the past and used in new syntheses of diverse compound libraries.