The Synthesis of Triazolium Salts as Antifungal Agents: A Biological and In Silico Evaluation.

The control of fungal pathogens is increasingly difficult due to the limited number of effective drugs available for antifungal therapy. In addition, both humans and fungi are eukaryotic organisms; antifungal drugs may have significant toxicity due to the inhibition of related human targets. Furthermore, another problem is increased incidents of fungal resistance to azoles, such as fluconazole, ketoconazole, voriconazole, etc. Thus, the interest in developing new azoles with an extended spectrum of activity still attracts the interest of the scientific community. Herein, we report the synthesis of a series of triazolium salts, an evaluation of their antifungal activity, and docking studies. Ketoconazole and bifonazole were used as reference drugs. All compounds showed good antifungal activity with MIC/MFC in the range of 0.0003 to 0.2/0.0006-0.4 mg/mL. Compound 19 exhibited the best activity among all tested with MIC/MFC in the range of 0.009 to 0.037 mg/mL and 0.0125-0.05 mg/mL, respectively. All compounds appeared to be more potent than both reference drugs. The docking studies are in accordance with experimental results.

Chromenol Derivatives as Novel Antifungal Agents: Synthesis, In Silico and In Vitro Evaluation.

Herein we report the synthesis of some new 1H-1,2,4-triazole functionalized chromenols (3a-3n) via tandem reactions of 1-(alkyl/aryl)-2-(1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-yl) with salicylic aldehydes and the evaluation of their antifungal activity. In silico prediction of biological activity with computer program PASS indicate that the compounds have a high novelty compared to the known antifungal agents. We did not find any close analog among the over 580,000 pharmaceutical agents in the Cortellis Drug Discovery Intelligence database at the similarity cutoff of 70%. The evaluation of antifungal activity in vitro revealed that the highest activity was exhibited by compound 3k, followed by 3n. Their MIC values for different fungi were 22.1-184.2 and 71.3-199.8 µM, respectively. Twelve from fourteen tested compounds were more active than the reference drugs ketoconazole and bifonazole. The most sensitive fungus appeared to be Trichoderma viride, while Aspergillus fumigatus was the most resistant one. It was found that the presence of the 2-(tert-butyl)-2H-chromen-2-ol substituent on the 4th position of the triazole ring is very beneficial for antifungal activity. Molecular docking studies on C. albicans sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) and DNA topoisomerase IV were used to predict the mechanism of antifungal activities. According to the docking results, the inhibition of CYP51 is a putative mechanism of antifungal activity of the novel chromenol derivatives. We also showed that most active compounds have a low cytotoxicity, which allows us to consider them promising antifungal agents for the subsequent testing activity in in vivo assays.

New vinyl-1,2,4-triazole derivatives as antimicrobial agents: Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies.

1,2,4-Triazole is a very important scaffold in medicinal chemistry due to the wide spectrum of biological activities and mainly antifungal activity of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives. The main mechanism of antifungal action of the latter is inhibition of 14-alpha-demethylase enzyme (CYP51). The current study presents synthesis and evaluation of eight triazole derivatives for their antimicrobial activity. Docking studies to elucidate the mechanism of action were also performed. The designed compounds were synthesized using classical methods of organic synthesis. The in vivo evaluation of antimicrobial activity was performed by microdilution method. All tested compounds showed good antibacterial activity with MIC and MBC values ranging from 0.0002 to 0.0069 mM. Compound 2 h appeared to be the most active among all tested with MIC at 0.0002-0.0033 mM and MBC at 0.0004-0.0033 mM followed by compounds 2f and 2g. The most sensitive bacterium appeared to be Xanthomonas campestris while Erwinia amylovora was the most resistant. The evaluation of antifungal activity revealed that all compounds showed good antifungal activity with MIC values ranging from 0.02 mM to 0.52 mM and MFC from 0.03 mM to 0.52 mM better than reference drugs ketoconazole (MIC and MFC values at 0.28-1.88 mM and 0.38 mM to 2.82 mM respectively) and bifonazole (MIC and MFC values at 0.32-0.64 mM and 0.64-0.81 mM). The best antifungal activity is displayed by compound 2 h with MIC at 0.02-0.04 mM and MFC at 0.03-0.06 mM while compound 2a showed the lowest activity. The results showed that these compounds could be lead compounds in search for new potent antimicrobial agents. Docking studies confirmed experimental results.

Tryptanthrin Analogues as Inhibitors of Enoyl-acyl Carrier Protein Reductase: Activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Toxicity, Modeling of Enzyme Binding.

BACKGROUND: High numbers of infection with resistant forms of Micobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) contribute to a constant growing demand in new highly active and effective therapeutics. Current drug discovery efforts directed towards new antituberculosis agents include the development of new inhibitors of enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) that do not require activation by the specific enzymes. Tryptanthrin is a known inhibitor of Mtb InhA and its analogues are investigated as potential agents with antimycobacterial efficiency. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the presented research was to develop a new group of tryptanthrin analogues with good inhibition properties against Mtb. METHODS: Synthesis of new derivatives of 5H-[1,3,4]thiadiazolo[2,3- b]quinazolin-5-one and evaluation of their activity against Mtb, as well as acute and chronic toxicity studies were carried out. Molecular modeling studies were performed to investigate the binding mechanisms of the synthesized ligands with InhA. Binding energies and non-covalent interactions stabilizing the ligand-receptor complexes were obtained from the results of molecular docking. RESULTS: The most active compound in the obtained series, 2-(propylthio)-5H-[1,3,4]thiadiazolo[2,3- b]quinazolin-5-one, exhibited the superior inhibition activity (up to 100%) against mycobacterial growth at MIC 6.5 µg/mL, showed good affinity to the InhA enzyme in docking studies and demonstrated a very low per oral toxicity in animals falling under the category 5 according to GHS classification. CONCLUSION: 2-(propylthio)-5H-[1,3,4]thiadiazolo[2,3-b]quinazolin-5-one can be further explored for the development of a new series of compounds active against Mtb.

Ectonucleotidase Inhibitory and Redox Activity of Imidazole-Based Organic Salts and Ionic Liquids.

Cytotoxicity against cancer and normal cells, inhibition of ectonucleotidase, and redox properties of a new group of imidazole-based organic salts and ionic liquids were studied. The tetrachloroferrate salt of a 1-methylimidazole derivative of salicylic aldehyde had most prominent inhibitory activity against ectonucleotidase as well as a higher cytotoxicity against HeLa cells and lower cytotoxicity against BHK-21 cells than the reference compound carboplatin. The studied compounds exhibited a moderate level of antioxidant activity with better results for the salicylic aldehyde derivatives than for spiropyrans. Moreover, these compounds did not generate singlet oxygen.

Preparation of alginate-chitosan-cyclodextrin micro- and nanoparticles loaded with anti-tuberculosis compounds.

This paper describes the synthesis and application of alginate-chitosan-cyclodextrin micro- and nanoparticulate systems loaded with isoniazid (INH) and isoconazole nitrate (ISN) as antimycobacterial compounds. Preparation and morphology of the obtained particles, as well as antimycobacterial activity data of the obtained systems are presented. Docking of isoconazole into the active site of enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) of Mycobacetrium tuberculosis was carried out in order to predict the binding affinity and non-covalent interactions stabilizing the InhA-isoconazole complex. To assess these interactions, frontier molecular orbital calculations were performed for the active site of InhA and isoconazole obtained from docking. Isoconazole was predicted to be an active inhibitor of InhA with the analysis of the molecular docking and electron density distribution. It has been detected that alginate-chitosan-cyclodextrin microparticulate systems loaded with INH and ISN are as effective as pure INH applied in higher dosages.

A novel example of double 6-exo-trig heterocyclization: nitrile conversion to new anticancer active (HeLa cells) primary amine ionic liquids.

Conversion of nitriles under mild conditions leads to a new class of primary amines, including room temperature ionic liquids, acting as efficient anticancer agents.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of potent antifungal agents.

The last two decades are characterized by major increases in the incidence of systemic fungal infections caused by the yeast Candida albicans, particularly in immunocompromised patients. On the other hand it was observed the increased number of pathogenic microorganisms with multiple resistance to drugs. Also there is a big variety of drugs for the treatment of candidiasis, only two drugs are used for the treatment of infections from Aspergillus fumigatus. Taking into account that the long term therapy with azoles results in resistance a critical need exists for new antifungal agents with fewer side effecgts to treat these life-threatening fungal infections. This review will cover the advances in research of biological activity of different compounds from different chemical classes with focus on their antifungal properties.

Recent advances in the use of cyclodextrins in antifungal formulations.

Cyclodextrins are usually used in antifungal formulations as auxiliary substances to improve solubility, stability, or other physicochemical properties of the active compound. Nevertheless, more and more research and practical use results indicate that cyclodextrins might also act as active compounds in pharmaceutical formulations. The biological effects of cyclodextrins, important for their use within antimycotic formulations, can be divided into: effects based on the ability of cyclodextrins to form inclusion complexes with endogenous substances (membrane lipids, cellular cholesterol), effects based on formation of inclusion complexes with component parts of fungi cells, and effects based on the chemical nature of cyclodextrins and their derivatives. This review will cover the advances in research of biological activity of cyclodextrins with focus on their properties responsible for their synergistic effect with antimycotic compounds.

Evidence of slow relaxation of magnetization in dysprosium-based ionic liquids.

Dysprosium based ionic liquids displaying slow relaxation of magnetization at low temperatures are reported.

Catalytic "triangles": binding of iron in task-specific ionic liquids.

A new class of task-specific ionic liquids (ILs) which contain septuply positively charged {Fe(3)(III)O(RCOO)(6)L(3)}(7+) triangles has been synthesized and structurally characterized. Such metal-containing ILs can be repeatedly used as alternative catalysts in the synthesis of 2-pyrrolo-3'-yloxindole or the condensation of indoles with various aldehydes.

Highly enantio- and diastereoselective generation of two quaternary centers in spirocyclopropanation of oxindole derivatives.

Spirocyclopropanes: Only one out of eight possible stereoisomers was obtained in the asymmetric cascade cyclopropanation of alkylidene oxindoles with ethyl 2-chloroacetoacetate. Improved catalyst design ensured that spirocyclopropyl oxindoles featuring two quaternary centers were synthesized in high yield and high enantio- and diastereoselectivity (see scheme).

The structure-antituberculosis activity relationships study in a series of 5-aryl-2-thio-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives.

A series of 82 5-aryl-2-thio-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives were screened for their anti-mycobacterial activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The synthesized compounds 30-37 appeared to be the most active derivatives exhibiting more than 90% inhibition of mycobacterial growth at 12.5 µg/mL. Structure-activity relationships study was performed for the given series by using the electronic-topological method combined with neural networks (ETM-NN). A system for the anti-mycobacterial activity prediction was developed as the result of training associative neural network (ASNN) with weights calculated from projections of a compound and each pharmacophoric fragment found on the elements of the Kohonen's self-organizing maps (SOMs). From the detailed analysis of all compounds under study, the necessary requirements for a compound to possess antituberculosis activity have been formulated. The analysis has shown that any requirement's violation for a molecule implies a considerable decrease or even complete loss of its activity. Molecular docking studies of the compounds allowed shedding light on the binding mode of these novel anti-mycobacterial inhibitors.

Synthesis of novel 5-aryl-2-thio-1,3,4-oxadiazoles and the study of their structure-anti-mycobacterial activities.

The preparation of novel 5-aryl-2-thio-1,3,4-oxadiazoles 4a-41 and the computer-aided study of their in vitro anti-tubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294) are reported. The average accuracy of the electronic-topological method and neural network methods applied to the activity prediction in leave-one-out cross validation is 80%.

Design, synthesis, computational and biological evaluation of new anxiolytics.

New anxiolytics have been discovered by prediction of biological activity with computer programs pass and derek for a heterogeneous set of 5494 highly chemically diverse heterocyclic compounds (thiazoles, pyrazoles, isatins, a-fused imidazoles and others). The majority of tested compounds exhibit the predicted anxiolytic effect. The most potent activity was found in 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-(4-phenylpiperazinomethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine 8, 1-[(4-bromophenyl)-2-oxoethyl]-3-(1,3-dioxolano)-2-indolinone 3, 5-hydroxy-3-methoxycarbonyl-1-phenylpyrazole 5 and 2-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-(4-methylpiperazinomethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine 7. The application of the computer-assisted approach significantly reduced the number of synthesized and tested compounds and increased the chance of finding new chemical entities (NCEs).

Design of new cognition enhancers: from computer prediction to synthesis and biological evaluation.

To discover new cognition enhancers, a set of virtually designed synthesizable compounds from different chemical series was investigated using two computer-aided approaches. One of the approaches is prediction of biological activity spectra for substances (PASS) and the second is prediction of toxicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity (DEREK). To increase the probability of finding new chemical entities, we investigated a heterogeneous set of highly diverse chemicals including different types of heterocycles: five-membered (thiophenes, thiazoles, imidazoles, oxazoles, pyrroles), six-membered (pyridines, pyrimidines), seven-membered (diazepines, triazepines), fused five+six-membered heterocycles (indoles, benzothiazoles, purines, indolizines, neutral, mesoionic, and cationic azolopyridines). A database including 5494 structures of compounds was created. On the basis of the PASS and DEREK prediction results, eight compounds with the highest probability of cognition-enhancing effect were selected. The cognition-enhancing activity testing showed that all of the selected compounds had a pronounced antiamnesic effect and were found to reduce significantly scopolamine-induced amnesia of passive avoidance reflex (PAR). The action of compounds at doses of 1 and 10 mg/kg caused a statistically significant increase in latent time of reflex and in the number of animals, which did not enter the dark chamber when testing the PAR. Therefore, on the basis of computer prediction, new cognition-enhancing agents were discovered within the chemical series, in which this activity was not known previously.