Copper-catalyzed oxidative coupling of formamides with salicylaldehydes: synthesis of carbamates in the presence of a sensitive aldehyde group.

A diverse library of novel carbamates was synthesized utilizing copper-catalyzed oxidative C-O coupling of formamides and salicylaldehydes. Sensitive aldehyde groups remained intact in the presence of an oxidant and a transition-metal salt. Salicylaldehydes bearing electron-donating, electron-withdrawing, and halogen groups as well as 1-hydroxy-2-naphthaldehydes provided the desired carbamates in good to excellent yields.

An epigenetic modifier enhances the production of anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory sesquiterpenoids from Aspergillus sydowii.

The addition of a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, 5-azacytidine, to Aspergillus sydowii fungus culture broth changed its secondary metabolites profile. Analysis of the culture broth extract led to the isolation of three new bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoids: (7S)-(+)-7-O-methylsydonol (1), (7S,11S)-(+)-12-hydroxysydonic acid (2) and 7-deoxy-7,14-didehydrosydonol (3), along with eight known compounds. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities. Among the isolates, (S)-(+)-sydonol (4) did not only potentiate insulin-stimulated glucose consumption but also prevented lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Additionally, (S)-(+)-sydonol (4) exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity through inhibiting superoxide anion generation and elastase release by fMLP/CB-induced human neutrophils. This is the first report on isolating a secondary metabolite with anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activities from microorganisms.

Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, induces the production of anti-inflammatory cyclodepsipeptides from Beauveria felina.

The addition of the histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid to a culture of the filamentous fungus Beauveria felina significantly changed its secondary metabolite profile and led to the isolation of eight compounds, including three new cyclodepsipeptides, desmethylisaridin E (1), desmethylisaridin C2 (2), and isaridin F (3), along with five known cyclodepsipeptide compounds. Isaridin F (3) possesses a cyclodepsipeptide ring with N-methylbutyric acid, which is rare in natural peptides. Absolute configurations of the new cyclodepsipeptides were achieved by Marfey's method. The anti-inflammatory activity of the isolated compounds was investigated through evaluating their effect on superoxide anion production and elastase release by FMLP-induced human neutrophils. Among the tested compounds, desmethylisaridin E (1) inhibited superoxide anion production and desmethylisaridin C2 (2) inhibited elastase release, with IC50 values of 10.00 ± 0.80 and 10.01 ± 0.46 µM, respectively.

Synthesis of chalcone derivatives as potential anti-diabetic agents.

Chalcones bearing electron donating or electron withdrawing substitutions were prepared and their glucose uptake activity was evaluated. Chalcone derivatives were synthesized in one step protocol with high purity and yield. Chalcones with chloro, bromo, iodo and hydroxy substitutions at position 2 on A-ring exhibited the highest activity with glucose medium concentration (210 to 236 mg/dl) compared to pioglitazone and rosiglitazone (230 and 263 mg/dl, respectively). Also chalcones with iodo substitution at position 3 on A-ring were comparably active (≤238 mg/dl). The structure-activity relationship of the tested chalcones was studied and the findings were supported statistically.

Inhibition of the Epstein-Barr virus lytic cycle by protoapigenone.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) expresses two transcription factors, Rta and Zta, during the immediate-early stage of the lytic cycle to activate the transcription of early and late genes. This study finds that 0.31 mM protoapigenone from Thelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) inhibits the expression of EBV lytic proteins, including Rta, Zta, EA-D and VCA, in P3HR1 cells after lytic induction with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and sodium butyrate. The lack of expression of EBV lytic proteins after protoapigenone treatment is attributed to the inhibition of the transactivation function of Zta because protoapigenone reduces the transactivation activity of Zta and Gal4-Zta, which contains the transactivation domain of Zta fused with Gal4. In contrast, protoapigenone does not affect the ability of Rta to activate a promoter that contains an Rta-response element, showing that the inhibition is unrelated to Rta. Furthermore, in a lactate dehydrogenase assay, protoapigenone is not toxic to P3HR1 cells at the concentrations that inhibit the function of Zta, showing that protoapigenone is valuable for studying the function of Zta and preventing EBV lytic proliferation.

First total synthesis of antrocamphin A and its analogs as anti-inflammatory and anti-platelet aggregation agents.

Naturally occurring antrocamphin A (1) is a potent anti-inflammatory compound from the edible fungus Antrodia camphorata (Taiwanofungus camphoratus), whose wild fruiting body is used as a valuable folk medicine in Taiwan. This study is the first total synthesis of antrocamphin A (1) and its analogs. Their inhibition ability on NO release, superoxide anion generation, elastase release and platelet aggregation are reported herein.

Chiral tertiary 2-furyl alcohols: diversified key intermediates to bioactive compounds. Their enantioselective synthesis via (2-furyl)aluminium addition to ketones catalyzed by a titanium catalyst of (S)-BINOL.

Novel asymmetric 2-furyl additions of (2-furyl)AlEt(2)(THF) to aromatic ketones and one alpha,beta-unsaturated ketone catalyzed by a titanium catalyst of 10-20 mol% (S)-BINOL are reported to furnish tertiary furyl alcohols in good to excellent enantioselectivities of 87-93% ee.

1,3-Bis[N-sulfonyl-(1R,2S)-1,3-diphenyl-2-aminopropanol]benzene: an excellent ligand for titanium-catalyzed asymmetric AlPh3(THF) additions to aldehydes.

Asymmetric AlPh(3) (THF) additions to a wide variety of aldehydes catalyzed by a titanium catalyst of 20 mol % 1,3-bis[N-sulfonyl-(1R,2S)-1,3-diphenyl-2-aminopropanol]benzene (1) are reported. The catalytic system works excellently for aromatic aldehydes bearing either an electron-donating or an electron-withdrawing substituent on the aromatic ring to afford secondary diaryl alcohols in excellent isolated yields of >or=95% and excellent enantioselectivities of >or=94% ee. The phenyl addition to cinnamaldehyde or 2-furylaldehyde gave corresponding secondary alcohols in 85% and 95% ee, respectively. For aliphatic aldehydes, increasing enantioselectivities of the addition products in terms of increasing steric sizes of aldehydes are observed, and this trend goes from the linear 1-pentanal (87% ee), the secondary cyclohexylaldehyde (95% ee) or the 2-methylpropanal (97% ee), to the tertiary 2,2-dimethylpropanal (99% ee).

Insights on the isolation, biological activity and synthetic protocols of enyne derivatives.

Enyne derivatives isolated from terrestrial plants and fungi have recently attracted attention due to their interesting biological activities. It was found that these derivatives possess in general potent antiinflammatory activity which was attributed to the structural similarity of enynes with the natural antiinflammatory agents secreted in the human body. The biosynthesis of some of the isolated enynes has been proposed based on detailed isotope labeling studies. Computational calculations have been utilized to analyze the conformational preferences and forces affecting interaction of some enynes with the target binding sites. Synthesis of enynes has been achieved using several coupling techniques. In the current review we shed some light on the isolation, biological activity, and biosynthetic routes of enynes. We also recount different synthetic methodologies developed for the synthesis of compounds containing enyne functional group.

Inhibition of ATR-dependent signaling by protoapigenone and its derivative sensitizes cancer cells to interstrand cross-link-generating agents in vitro and in vivo.

DNA damage caused during cancer treatment can rapidly activate the ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) and ATM and Rad3-related (ATR)-dependent phosphorylation of Chk2 and Chk1 kinases, which are hallmarks of the DNA damage response (DDR). Pharmacologic inhibition of ATR causes a synthetic lethal effect on ATM- or p53-defective cancers, suggesting that such inhibition is an effective way to improve the sensitivity of cancers to DNA-damaging agents. Here, both the natural compound protoapigenone (WYC02) and its synthetic derivative WYC0209 exhibited cytotoxic effects on various cancer cell lines. WYC02 causes chromosomal aberration in the mitotic spreads of Chinese hamster ovary cells. Interestingly, cancer cells did not exhibit typical DDR markers upon exposure to WYC02 and WYC0209 (WYCs). Further investigation into the molecular mechanisms of WYCs function revealed that they have a potential ability to inhibit DDR, particularly on activation of Chk1 and Fanconi anemia group D2 protein (FANCD2), but not Chk2. In this way, WYCs inhibited ATR-mediated DNA damage checkpoint and repair. Furthermore, when combined with the DNA cross-linking agent cisplatin, treatment with WYCs resulted in increased tumor sensitivity to interstrand cross-link-generating agents both in vitro and in vivo. Our results therefore especially implicate WYCs in enhancing tumor chemosensitivity when the ATR checkpoint is constitutively active in states of oncogene-driven replicative stress or tolerance to DNA-interfering agents.

Direct semi-synthesis of the anticancer lead-drug protoapigenone from apigenin, and synthesis of further new cytotoxic protoflavone derivatives.

Protoapigenone, a natural flavonoid possessing an unusual p-quinol moiety on its B-ring, is a novel prospective anticancer agent with low toxicity that is currently in development. The first economical, one-step synthesis of protoapigenone from apigenin is described on up to gram scale. 13 new 1'-O-alkylflavone analogs were also synthesized, either from apigenin or ß-naphthoflavone. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of each compound was tested on six human cancer cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, Ca9-22, A549, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). In the case of 1'-O-alkyl-protoapigenone derivatives, structure-activity relationships were found depending on the side-chain, and protoapigenone 1'-O-butyl ether was found to exert significantly stronger activity against three of the cell lines (Hep3B, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) than its non-substituted analog, protoapigenone itself. In contrast to this, all ß-naphthoflavone derivatives bearing the same pharmacophore on their B-ring showed decreased cytotoxic activities when substituted with an O-alkyl side-chain at position 1', comparing to that of the non-substituted compound.

Fern plant-derived protoapigenone leads to DNA damage, apoptosis, and G(2)/m arrest in lung cancer cell line H1299.

Protoapigenone, isolated from the native fern plant Thelypteris torresiana, has anticancer activity against some cancer cells. However, the toxicological mechanism for protoapigenone is still unknown. Here, we investigated the anticancer effect of protoapigenone on human lung cancer cell lines. The comet assay showed that DNA damage induced by protoapigenone is dose-dependent. Trypan blue exclusion showed that the cell killing by protoapigenone is both time and dose dependent. The IC(50) of protoapigenone for 12, 24, and 48 h in H1299 cells is 6.11, 2.74, and 1.49 microM, respectively. Flow cytometry showed cell cycle perturbation such as sub-G(1) accumulation (at 1.57 microM for 48 h and at 3.57 microM for 12 and 24 h) and G(2)/M arrest (at 3.57 microM for 12 and 24 h) for protoapigenone. The sub-G(1) accumulation phenomena in the 3.57 microM for 24 h sample were shown to be apoptosis using Annexin V-immunofluorescence/propidium iodide staining. These results suggest protoapigenone is a potential chemotherapeutic agent for lung cancers.