Synthesis, Antimicrobial Activities, and Molecular Modeling Studies of Agents for the Sortase A Enzyme.

Sortase A (SrtA) is an attractive target for developing new anti-infective drugs that aim to interfere with essential virulence mechanisms, such as adhesion to host cells and biofilm formation. Herein, twenty hydroxy, nitro, bromo, fluoro, and methoxy substituted chalcone compounds were synthesized, antimicrobial activities and molecular modeling strategies against the SrtA enzyme were investigated. The most active compounds were found to be T2, T4, and T19 against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) with MIC values of 1.93, 3.8, 3.94 µg/mL, and docking scores of -6.46, -6.63, -6.73 kcal/mol, respectively. Also, these three active compounds showed better activity than the chlorohexidine (CHX) (MIC value: 4.88 µg/mL, docking score: -6.29 kcal/mol) in both in vitro and in silico. Structural stability and binding free energy analysis of S.mutans SrtA with active compounds were measured by molecular dynamic (MD) simulations throughout 100 nanoseconds (ns) time. It was observed that the stability of the critical interactions between these compounds and the target enzyme was preserved. To prove further, in vivo biological evaluation studies could be conducted for the most promising precursor compounds T2, T4, and T19, and it might open new avenues to the discovery of more potent SrtA inhibitors.

Design, synthesis, and enzyme inhibition evaluation of some novel Mono- and Di-O-ß-D-Glycopyranosyl Chalcone analogues with molecular docking studies.

In this study, some novel mono- and di-O-ß-D-glycopyranosyl chalcone analogs were designed, synthesized, and characterized. The chalcone derivatives were synthesized with good yields by base-catalyzed Claisen-Schmidt condensation in EtOH solution. Then these chalcones were reacted with TAGBr (2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-glucopyranosylbromide) in dry acetone under the anhydrous condition at 0-5 °C. Deacylated was carried out by the Zemplen's method with NaOCH3 in dry methanol results in substituted chalcone-O-glycosides (mono- and di-O-ß-D-glycopyranosyl chalcone analogs). The chemical structures of all synthesized compounds were elucidated based on IR, NMR spectral data, and mass spectrometry. Further, the compounds (7a-c, 8a-c, 12a-c, 16a-c, and 17a-c) were tested for their enzyme inhibition activity against α-glycosidase, tyrosinase, and AChE with in vitro and in silico analysis. Amongst them, compounds 12a-c, 16a-c, and 17a-c displayed moderate or less enzyme inhibition activity against α-glycosidase while other compounds 7a-c and 8a-c) were not active. Remarkably interesting enzyme inhibition effects, with IC50 values below 30.59 ± 0.30 µM were recorded with 7c (IC50=11.07 ± 0.55 µM) against tyrosinase.

New pyrimidine-N-ß-D-glucosides: synthesis, biological evaluation, and molecular docking investigations.

In this study, syntheses of new pyrimidine-coupled N-ß-glucosides and tetra-O-acetyl derivatives were carried out. All glycoconjugates were investigated in comparison with known chemotherapeutic agents in terms of their antimicrobial and anticancer functions and DNA/protein binding affinities. Spectral data showed that all glycoside derivatives were obtained by diastereoselectivity as ß-anomers. Both tested groups exhibited strong antiproliferative activity (2.29-66.84 µg/mL), but some of them had sufficiently ideal % cytotoxicity values (10.01%-16.78%). And also all synthetic compounds exhibited remarkable antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria. Binding of these compounds to CT-DNA resulted in significant changes in spectral properties, consistent with groove binding. Molecular docking studies of some compounds revealed that the docking score, complex energy, and MM-GBSA ΔGBind energy values were consistent with the experimental results, which showed that the new compounds were potent chemotherapeutic agents. Overall bioactivity results suggest that these compounds may be candidates as new chemotherapeutic agents and deserve further pharmacological evaluation.

Use of Dicranum polysetum extract against Paenibacillus larvae causing American Foulbrood under in vivo and in vitro conditions.

Recent research shows that Dicranum species can be used to ameliorate the negative effects of honeybee bacterial diseases and that novel compounds isolated from these species may have the potential to treat bacterial diseases. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Dicranum polysetum Sw. against American Foulbrood using toxicity and larval model. The effectiveness of D. polysetum Sw. ethanol extract in combating AFB was investigated in vitro and in vivo. This study is important in finding an alternative treatment or prophylactic method to prevent American Foulbrood disease in honey bee colonies. Spore and vegetative forms of Paenibacillus larvae PB31B with ethanol extract of D. polysetum were tested on 2040 honey bee larvae under controlled conditions. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents of D. polysetum ethanol extracts were determined as 80.72 mg/GAE(Gallic acid equivalent) and 303.20 µg/mL, respectively. DPPH(2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging percent inhibition value was calculated as 4.32%. In Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) and Lymantria dispar (LD652) cell lines, the cytotoxic activities of D. polysetum extract were below 20% at 50 µg/mL. The extract was shown to considerably decrease infection in the larvae, and the infection was clinically halted when the extract was administered during the first 24 h after spore contamination. The fact that the extract contains potent antimicrobial/antioxidant activity does not reduce larval viability and live weight, and does not interact with royal jelly is a promising development, particularly regarding its use to treat early-stage AFB infection.

Phytochemicals, antimicrobial, and sporicidal activities of moss, Dicranum polysetum Sw., against certain honey bee bacterial pathogens.

Beekeeping is an important agricultural and commercial activity globally practiced. Honey bee is attacked by certain infectious pathogens. Most important brood diseases are bacterial including American Foulbrood (AFB), caused by Paenibacillus larvae (P. larvae), and European Foulbrood (EFB) by Melissococcus plutonius (M. plutonius) in addition of secondary invaders, e.g. Paenibacillus alvei (P. alvei) and Paenibacillus dendritiformis (P. dendritiformis). These bacteria cause the death of larvae in honey bee colonies. In this work, antibacterial activities of extracts, fractions, and isolated certain compounds (nominated 1-3) all originated from moss, Dicranum polysetum Sw. ( D. polysetum), were tested against some honey bee bacterial pathogens. Minimum inhibitory concentration, minimum bactericidal concentration, and sporicidal values ​​of methanol extract, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane fractions ranged between 10.4 and 18.98, 83.4-303.75 & 5.86-18.98 µg/mL against P. larvae, respectively. Antimicrobial activities of the ethyl acetate sub-fractions (fraction) and the isolated compounds (1-3) were tested against AFB- and EFB-causing bacteria. Bio-guided chromatographic separation of ethyl acetate fraction, a crude methanolic extract obtained from aerial parts of D. polysetum resulted in three natural compounds: a novel one, i.e. glycer-2-yl hexadeca-4-yne-7Z,10Z,13Z-trienoate (1, dicrapolysetoate; given as trivial name), in addition to two known triterpenoids poriferasterol (2), and γ-taraxasterol (3). Minimum inhibitory concentration ranges were 1.4-60.75, 8.12-65.0, 2.09-33.44 & 1.8-28.75 µg/mL for sub-fractions, compounds 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Dihydroisocoumarins and Phenylglycosides from Scorzonera longiana, Their Antimicrobial Activities and Molecular Docking Studies.

Five new phenyl dihydroisocoumarin glycosides (1-5) and two known compounds (6-7) were identified from the butanol fraction of Scorzonera longiana. The structures of 1-7 were elucidated based on spectroscopic methods. Antimicrobial, antitubercular, and antifungal evaluation of compounds 1-7 were carried out using the microdilution method against nine microorganisms. Compound 1 was active only against Mycobacterium smegmatis (Ms) with a MIC value of 14.84 µg/mL. All tested compounds (1-7) were active against Ms but only compounds 3-7 were active against fungi (C. albicans, S. cerevisiae) with MIC values of 25.0-125 µg/mL. In addition, molecular docking studies were conducted against Ms DprE1 (PDB ID: 4F4Q), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mbt) DprE1 (PDB ID: 6HEZ), and arabinosyltransferase C (EmbC, PDB ID: 7BVE) enzymes. Compounds 2, 5, and 7 are the most effective Ms 4F4Q inhibitors. Compound 4 was the most promising inhibitory activity on Mbt DprE with the lowest binding energy of -9,9 kcal/mol.

Isolation, characterization and anticancer activity of secondary metabolites from Verbascum speciosum.

Herein, two iridoid glucosides aucubin (1) and ajugol (2), and two phenyl ethanoids, verbascoside (3) and poliumoside (4) were isolated from the methanol extract of the aerial parts of Verbascum speciosum and used to study about their anticancer activity for the first time. The structures of all compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic data (IR, 1D and 2D NMR, LC-TOF/MS). Antiproliferative activities of Aucubun (1) and Verbascoside (3) were tested against A-549 (human colon cancer), MDA-MD-453 (human breast cancer) and 3T3-L1 (mouse fibroblast)cell lines by XTT assay. In addition, the anticarcer mechanism of action of aucubin (1) was investigated on MDA-MB-453 cells for the first time. XTT result showed that both applied compounds exhibited antiproliferative effect at different dose ranges depending on the cancer type, as well as selectivity between cancer and healty cell lines. Flow cytometry analyzes revealed that aucubin (1) exerts its cytotoxic effect in MDA-MB-453 cells by directing cells to early apoptosis and inhibiting the P13K/AKT signaling pathway.

Two new dihydroisocoumarins and terpenoids from Scorzonera longiana Sümbül an endemic species to Turkey and their antimicrobial activity.

Two new dihydroisocoumarins (scorzolongin I (1), and scorzolongin II (2)) and nine known compounds (3',5'-dimethoxy hydrangenol (scorzolongin III, 3), cladantholide (4), dammar-24-ene-3ß-ol (5), taraxasterol (6), ß-sitosterol (7), mangifgerursanone (8), and a mixture of α-amyrenone (9a), ß-amyrenone (9b), and dammar-24-ene-3-one (9c) in about 1:1:2 ratio) were identified from the dichloromethane fraction of Scorzonera longiana. The structure of all compounds (1-9a-c) were elucidated by extensive 1D and 2D NMR (1H, 13C/APT, COSY, HMBC, HSQC, and NOESY) spectroscopy, UV, FT-IR, and LC-QTOF-MS data and by comparison of their NMR data with the literature. These compounds have been isolated from S. longiana for the first time. An antimicrobial assay against eight microorganisms was applied to isolated compounds 1-3. Scorzolongin I, and scorzolongin II, and scorzolongin III showed notable activity against gram (-) (Escherichia coli and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis) and fungi (Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with 20 mm inhibition zone each. Scorzolongin II (2) exhibited strong activity against E. coli, Y. pseudotuberculosis, Mycobacterium smegmatis C. albicans, S. cerevisiae with MIC value of 33.8 µg/mL.

Design, semi-synthesis and examination of new gypsogenin derivatives against leukemia via Abl tyrosine kinase inhibition and apoptosis induction.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by Philadelphia translocation arising from Bcr-Abl fusion gene, which encodes abnormal oncoprotein showing tyrosine kinase (TK) function. Certain mutations in kinase domain, off-target effects and resistance problems of current TK inhibitors require the discovery of novel Abl TK inhibitors. For this purpose, herein, we synthesized new gypsogenin derivatives (6a-l) and evaluated their anticancer effects towards CML cells along with healthy cell line and different leukemic cells. Among these compounds, compound 6l was found as the most active anti-leukemic agent against K562 CML cells compared to imatinib exerting less cytotoxicity towards PBMCs (healthy). This compound also revealed significant anti-leukemic effects against Jurkat cell line. Besides, compound 6l enhanced apoptosis in CML cells with 52.4 % when compared with imatinib (61.8 %) and inhibited Abl TK significantly with an IC50 value of 13.04 ± 2.48 µM in a large panel of kinases accentuating Abl TK-mediated apoptosis of compound 6l in CML cells. Molecular docking outcomes showed that compound 6l formed mainly crucial interactions in the ATP-binding cleft of Abl TK similar to that of imatinib. Ultimately, in silico pharmacokinetic evaluation of compound 6l indicated that this compound was endowed with anti-leukemic drug candidate features.

Investigation of potential inhibitor properties of violacein against HIV-1 RT and CoV-2 Spike RBD:ACE-2.

A violacein-producing bacterium was isolated from a mud sample collected near a hot spring on Kümbet Plateau in Giresun Province and named the GK strain. According to the phylogenetic tree constructed using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the GK strain was identified and named Janthinobacterium sp. GK. The crude violacein pigments were separated into three different bands on a TLC sheet. Then violacein and deoxyviolacein were purified by vacuum liquid column chromatography and identified by NMR spectroscopy. According to the inhibition studies, the HIV-1 RT inhibition rate of 1 mM violacein from the GK strain was 94.28% and the CoV-2 spike RBD:ACE2 inhibition rate of 2 mM violacein was 53%. In silico studies were conducted to investigate the possible interactions between violacein and deoxyviolacein and three reference molecules with the target proteins: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, and SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain. Ligand violacein binds strongly to the receptor ACE2, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, and SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain with a binding energy of -9.94 kcal/mol, -9.32 kcal/mol, and -8.27 kcal/mol, respectively. Deoxyviolacein strongly binds to the ACE2, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, and SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain with a binding energy of -10.38 kcal/mol, -9.50 kcal/mol, and -8.06 kcal/mol, respectively. According to these data, violacein and deoxyviolacein bind to all the receptors quite effectively. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and HIV-1-RT inhibition studies with violacein and deoxyviolacein were performed for the first time in the literature.

Biological Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Dicranum scoparium against the Bacterial Disease for Honey Bee.

Bacterial diseases, such as American Foulbrood (AFB) and European Foulbrood (EFB), are known to have catastrophic effects on honey bees (if left to spread, can wipe out entire colonies), leading to severe financial losses in the beekeeping industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacological properties of methanol extract and its fractions (ethyl acetate, hexane, water) derived from Dicranum scoparium Hedw., which could be utilized as a potential drug to prevent the bacterial diseases (AFB and EFB) affecting the honey bees. For this purpose, crude methanol extract and ethyl acetate/hexane/water fractions were prepared from the aerial part of D. scoparium, collected from Trabzon province. Bio-guided fractionation of the extract and its fractions led to the first-time isolation of five compounds. The structure of all compounds was elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet (UV) spectral analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (LC-QToF-MS), and by comparison of their NMR data with that of literature. The analysis of these compounds revealed significant antibacterial and sporicidal activities against bacteria causing larval diseases in honey bees. The antibacterial activity of these compounds ranged from 0.6 to 60 µg/mL against AFB and EFB causing bacteria. Therefore, the natural raw extract and fractions of D. scoparium could be used as potential therapeutic agents against bacterial agents affecting honey bees.

Antimicrobial and lipase inhibition of essential oil and solvent extracts of Cota tinctoria var. tinctoria and characterization of the essential oil.

The essential oil (EO) of Cota tinctoria var. tinctoria was analyzed using GC-FID / MS. A total of 51 compounds were determined from this taxon, accounting for 99.79% in hydrodistillation. Monoterpenes were the primary chemical class for the volatile organic compounds in the EO (36.1%, 13 compounds). Borneol (18.1%), camphor (14.9%), and ß-pinene (11.3%) were the major components in the EO of C. tinctoria var. tinctoria. The antimicrobial activities of EO and n-hexane, acetonitrile, methanol, and water solvent extracts of the taxon were screened in vitro against ten microorganisms. The EO yielded the best activity (15 mm, 372.5 MIC, 59600 µg/µL) against Mycobacterium smegmatis. The acetonitrile extract was the most active against the Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus with 274 µg/mL MIC value. IC50 values for the lipase enzyme inhibitory activity of EO and solvent extracts (n-hexane, acetonitrile, methanol, and water) were found to be 59.80 ± 4.3285 µg/mL 68.28 ± 3.1215 µg/mL, 52.60 ± 3.7526 µg/mL, 48.73 ± 2.8265 µg/mL, and 99.50 ± 5.5678 µg/mL, respectively.

Chemical Variation, Antimicrobial, Nitric Oxide Scavenging Activities and Tyrosinase Inhibition of Essential Oils and Solvent Extracts from Filipendula vulgaris Moench Growing in Turkey.

Volatile organic compositions of the essential oils (EOs), solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and SPME of n-hexane extracts from the flower and stem-leaf of Filipendula vulgaris (F. vulgaris) were analyzed by GC-FID/MS. A total of 107 constituents were characterized, flower and stem-leaf parts of the plant were found to contain different volatile organic compounds. Tricosane (29.6%), n-nonanal (20.5%) were identified as the main components in the essential oil of the flower, while phytol (35.2%) was found to be a major constituent in the essential oil of stem-leaf. Benzaldehyde (56.0%) and n-nonanal (31.6%) were the major groups in the SPME of stem-leaf and flower, respectively. The volatiles for the SPME of n-hexane extracts of the flower and stem-leaf of F. vulgaris were predominated by aromatic compounds (75.0% and 78.5%) and ketones (18.1% and 10.1%), respectively. On the other hand, a total of terpene compounds was found at the most in the EO of the stem-leaf part of the plant (48.6%). In addition, antimicrobial, tyrosinase inhibition, and nitric oxide scavenging activities of the n-hexane (H), methanol (M), aqueous extracts (A) and EOs of F. vulgaris were investigated. EOs and methanol extracts of flower and stem-leaf had high antimicrobial activity against tested various microorganisms. However, n-hexane extracts of the flower and stem-leaf only displayed activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis. Methanol extracts of flower and stem-leaf possessed the best tyrosine inhibition and NO scavenging activity.

EGFR-Targeted Pentacyclic Triterpene Analogues for Glioma Therapy.

Glioma, particularly its most malignant form, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most common and aggressive malignant central nervous system tumor. The drawbacks of the current chemotherapy for GBM have aroused curiosity in the search for targeted therapies. Aberrantly overexpressed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in GBM results in poor prognosis, low survival rates, poor responses to therapy and recurrence, and therefore EGFR-targeted therapy stands out as a promising approach for the treatment of gliomas. In this context, a series of pentacyclic triterpene analogues were subjected to in vitro and in silico assays, which were conducted to assess their potency as EGFR-targeted anti-glioma agents. In particular, compound 10 was the most potent anti-glioma agent with an IC50 value of 5.82 µM towards U251 human glioblastoma cells. Taking into account its low cytotoxicity to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), compound 10 exerts selective antitumor action towards Jurkat human leukemic T-cells. This compound also induced apoptosis and inhibited EGFR with an IC50 value of 9.43 µM compared to erlotinib (IC50 = 0.06 µM). Based on in vitro and in silico data, compound 10 stands out as a potential orally bioavailable EGFR-targeted anti-glioma agent endowed with the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Synthesis, biological evaluation (antioxidant, antimicrobial, enzyme inhibition, and cytotoxic) and molecular docking study of hydroxy methoxy benzoin/benzil analogous.

In this work, due to the biological activity evaluation, a series of hydroxy methoxy benzoins (1-8), benzils (10-16) and methoxy benzoin/benzil-O-ß-d-glucosides (17-28) were synthesized. Antioxidant (FRAP, CUPRAC, DPPH), antimicrobial (16 microorganisms, and two yeast), enzyme inhibition (α-amylase, α-glucosidase, AChE, BChE, and tyrosinase) of all synthesized benzoin/benzil analogs were investigated. Benzoins (1-8) showed the most effective antioxidant properties compared to all three methods. Compound 28 against α-amylase, compound 9 against α-glucosidase, compound 11 against AChE, compound 2 against BChE, and compound 13 against tyrosinase showed the best activities with the better or similar IC50 values as used standards. Hydroxy methoxy benzoin compounds (1-8) among all four groups were seen as the most effective against the tested microorganism. Molecular docking analysis showed that all tested compounds 1-28 (0.01-2.22 µM) had the best binding affinity against AChE enzyme. Cytotoxic effects of the many of compounds (1-16, 21, and 24) also investigated and it was found that they caused different effects in different cells. The LDH tests of compounds 1a + b, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 21, and 24, seemed to be effective compared to the positive control cisplatin. The cytotoxicity of compounds 6 (9.24%) for MCF7 cancer cells, 8 (5.16%) and 4 (8.26%) for HT29 cancer cells, 24 (9.84%) for Hep3B cells and 8 (8.52%), 7 (5.70%), 4 (6.94) and 9 (7.22%) for C6 cells were at normal values. And also cytotoxic activity of four compounds (5, 9, 21, and 24) among the all synthetic groups, were evaluated to the HeLa and RPE. Compound 5 showed anticancer activity on HeLa and RPE cancer cells as much as or better than cisplatin which was used as standard.

New chlorogenic acid derivatives and triterpenoids from Scorzonera aucheriana.

Chromatographic separation ofn-hexane and ethyl acetate fraction of a crude methanol extract obtained from aerial parts of theScorzonera aucherianaDC collected from Sivas province of Turkey yielded nine natural compounds; two new 3-caffeoyl-quinic acid analogs (1-2), one new taraxasterol oleate (3), and six known triterpenoids taraxasterol (4), taraxasterol acetate (5), ptiloepoxide (6), lupeol (7), lupeol acetate (8), andß-sitosterol (9) were characterized. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated on the basis of NMR (1H,13C, COSY, HMBC, HSQC, and TOCSY), UV, FT-IR and LC-Q-TOF-MS spectrometric data.

Synthesis of hydroxy benzoin/benzil analogs and investigation of their antioxidant, antimicrobial, enzyme inhibition, and cytotoxic activities.

In this study, hydroxy benzoin ( 1-7 ), benzil ( 8-14 ), and benzoin/benzil-O-ß-D-glucosides ( 15-25 ) were synthesized to investigate their biological activities. An efficient method for synthesizing hydroxy benzoin compounds ( 1 - 7 ) was prepared from four different benzaldehydes using an ultrasonic bath. Then, antioxidant (FRAP, CUPRAC, and DPPH), antimicrobial (3 Gram (-), 4/6 Gram (+), one tuberculosis and one fungus), and enzyme inhibition (acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholine esterase, tyrosinase, α-amylase, and α- glucosidase) for the all synthesized compounds ( 1-25 ) were evaluated. And also, four most active compounds ( 4 , 12 , 18a+b , and 25 ) from each group were evaluated to the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and anticancer screening tests against the human retinal normal cell line (RPE). Compound 4 showed HeLa and RPE cancer cell activities as much as cisplatin. The synthesized compounds were characterized by spectroscopic methods (NMR, FT-IR, UV, LC-QTOF-MS) and the ACD NMR program's help.

Novel 2-amino-4-aryl-6-pyridopyrimidines and N-alkyl derivatives: Synthesis, characterization and investigation of anticancer, antibacterial activities and DNA/BSA binding affinities.

A series of new 2-amino-4-aryl-6-pyridopyrimidines, and their N-alkyl bromide derivatives were designed and synthesized by employing methyl substituted azachalcones. These novel compounds were evaluated and compared to the well-known chemotherapeutics in terms of their anti-cancer and anti-microbial functions, and their DNA/protein binding affinities. In order for the cell proliferation, cytotoxicity and microdilution features to be observed, various cancer cell lines (Hep3B, A549, HeLa, C6, HT29, MCF7) were treated with 2-amino-4-aryl-6-pyridopyrimidines (1-9) and their N-alkyl bromide derivatives (2a-c, 3a-c,5a-c,6a-c, 8a-c, 9a-c). Studies on the cells revealed that both pyrimidines and their alkyl derivatives (i) have a high anti-proliferative and anti-microbial activities, (ii) cause cell rounding, cytoplasmic blebs, and anomalous globular structure, and (iii) strongly bound to DNA/BSA macromolecules. Especially the length of the alkyl chain of the N-alkyl bromides has an increasing effect on the antiproliferative, antibacterial and cytotoxic functions, also DNA/protein binding affinity. Those results indicate the novel compounds to be promising antiproliferative agents, and their anti-cancer potential makes them candidates to be used for cancer therapy.

Chemical composition, antimicrobial, and lipase enzyme activity of essential oil and solvent extracts from Serapias orientalis subsp. orientalis.

The volatile components of essential oil (EO), SPME, and SPME of solvent extracts ( n -hexane, methanol, and water) obtained from fresh Serapias orientalis subsp. orientalis ( Soo ) were analyzed by GC-FID/MS. EO of Soo gave 11 compounds in the percentage of 99.97%; capronaldehyde (37.01%), 2-( E )-hexenal (23.19%), and n -nonanal (19.05%) were found to be major constituents. SPME GC-FID/MS analyses of fresh plant and solvent extracts of Soo revealed 7, 12, 7, and 4 compounds within the range of 99.7% to 99.9%. Limonene (76.5%, 41.7%, and 61.3%) was the major compound in SPMEs of the n -hexane and methanol extracts. α -Methoxy- p -cresol (52.9%) was the main component in its water extract. The antimicrobial activity of EO and the solvent extracts of Soo were screened against 9microorganisms. EO showed the best activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis , with 79.5 µg/mL MIC value. The n -hexane, methanol, and water extracts were the most active against the Staphylococcus aureus within the range of 81.25-125.0 µg/mL (MIC). IC 50 values for the lipase enzyme inhibitory activity of EO and solvent extracts ( n -hexane, methanol, and water) were determined to be 59.87 µg/mL, 64.03 µg/mL, 101.91 µg/mL, and 121.24 µg/mL, respectively.

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Pentacyclic Triterpene Derivatives: Optimization of Anti-ABL Kinase Activity.

Imatinib, an Abelson (ABL) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is a lead molecular-targeted drug against chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). To overcome its resistance and adverse effects, new inhibitors of ABL kinase are needed. Our previous study showed that the benzyl ester of gypsogenin (1c), a pentacyclic triterpene, has anti-ABL kinase and a subsequent anti-CML activity. To optimize its activities, benzyl esters of carefully selected triterpenes (PT1-PT6), from different classes comprising oleanane, ursane and lupane, and new substituted benzyl esters of gypsogenin (GP1-GP5) were synthesized. All of the synthesized compounds were purified and charachterized by different spectroscopic methods. Cytotoxicity of the parent triterpenes and the synthesized compounds against CML cell line K562 was examined; revealing three promising compounds PT5, GP2 and GP5 (IC50 5.46, 4.78 and 3.19 µM, respectively). These compounds were shown to inhibit extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) downstream signaling, and induce apoptosis in K562 cells. Among them, PT5 was identified to have in vitro activity (IC50 = 1.44 µM) against ABL1 kinase, about sixfold of 1c, which was justified by molecular docking. The in vitro activities of GP2 and GP5 are less than PT5, hence they were supposed to possess other more mechanisms of cytotoxicity. In general, our design and derivatizations resulted in enhancing the activity against ABL1 kinase and CML cells.