Novel benzidine and diaminofluorene prolinamide derivatives as potent hepatitis C virus NS5A inhibitors.

Our study describes the discovery of a series of highly potent hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A inhibitors based on symmetrical prolinamide derivatives of benzidine and diaminofluorene. Through modification of benzidine, l-proline, and diaminofluorene derivatives, we developed novel inhibitor structures, which allowed us to establish a library of potent HCV NS5A inhibitors. After optimizing the benzidine prolinamide backbone, we identified inhibitors embedding meta-substituted benzidine core structures that exhibited the most potent anti-HCV activities. Furthermore, through a battery of studies including hERG ligand binding assay, CYP450 binding assay, rat plasma stability test, human liver microsomal stability test, and pharmacokinetic studies, the identified compounds 24, 26, 27, 42, and 43 are found to be nontoxic, and are expected to be effective therapeutic anti-HCV agents.

Mechanistic studies of magnetically recyclable Pd - Fe3O4 heterodimeric nanocrystal-catalyzed organic reactions.

Recently, we have reported several catalytic applications of new Pd - Fe3 O4 heterodimeric nanocrystals as magnetically separable catalysts. Successful applications of the nanocrystals towards various useful organic reactions such as Suzuki, Heck, and Sonogashira coupling reactions, direct C - H arylation, and Wacker oxidation have been recorded. However, detailed mechanistic courses of the reactions have not been delineated, and it was not clear whether these processes proceeded through a homogeneous or heterogeneous mechanism. Here, we report detailed mechanistic investigations of the reactions employing the Pd - Fe3 O4 nanoparticle catalysts. Suzuki coupling and Wacker oxidation reactions were chosen as two representative heterogeneous reactions employing the Pd - Fe3 O4 catalysts, and general kinetic studies, hot filtration tests, and three-phase tests were carried out for the two reactions. The studies showed that the reactions most probably proceed via a solution-phase mechanism.

Xylocydine, a novel Cdk inhibitor, is an effective inducer of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently includes abnormalities in cell cycle regulators, including up-regulated cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdks) activities due to loss or low expression of Cdk inhibitors. In this study, we show that xylocydine, a cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) specific inhibitor, is a good anti-cancer drug candidate for HCC treatment. Xylocydine (50muM) selectively down-regulates the activity of Cdk1 and Cdk2, accompanied by significant cell growth inhibition in HCC cells. Xylocydine also strongly inhibits the activity of Cdk7 and Cdk9, in vitro as well as in cell cultures, that is temporally associated with apoptotic cell death in xylocydine-induced HCC cells. This is associated with inhibition of phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II at serine residues 5 and 2, which are targets of Cdk7 and Cdk9, respectively. The effects on apoptosis are concomitant with changes in the levels of anti-apoptotic proteins, Bcl-2, XIAP, and survivin, which are markedly down-regulated, and pro-apoptotic molecules, p53 and Bax, which are elevated in HCC cells after treatment with xylocydine. The up-regulated level of p53 was associated with increased stability of the protein, as levels of Ser15 and Ser392 phsophorylated p53 are similarly elevated in the inhibitor treated cells. We demonstrated that xylocydine can effectively suppress the growth of HCC xenografts in Balb/C-nude mice by preferentially inducing apoptosis in the xenografts, whereas the drug did not cause any apparent toxic effect on other tissues. Taken together, these data suggest that the novel Cdk inhibitor xylocydine is a good candidate for an anti-cancer drug for HCC therapy.