N-Heteroarylmethyl-5-hydroxy-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylic acid a novel scaffold for the design of uncompetitive α-glucosidase inhibitors.

The enzyme α-glucosidase has attracted interest owing to its involvement in the digestive process of carbohydrate, its role in intracellular glycoprotein trafficking, tumorigenesis and viral infection. In this study, several members of a new family of N-heteroarylmethyl substituted azasugars were synthesized and evaluated as α-glucosidase inhibitors. We systematically investigated the effect of different N-substituents as well as the role of hydroxyl and carboxylate moieties on the piperidine ring. The compounds N-heteroarylmethyl-5-hydroxy-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylic acid emerged as potent α-glucosidase inhibitors. Unlike Acarbose and other clinically relevant α-glucosidase inhibitors, these compounds act through a reversible uncompetitive mechanism of inhibition which make them attractive candidates for drug development.

Schiff bases: a short survey on an evergreen chemistry tool.

The review reports a short biography of the Italian naturalized chemist Hugo Schiff and an outline on the synthesis and use of his most popular discovery: the imines, very well known and popular as Schiff Bases. Recent developments on their "metallo-imines" variants have been described. The applications of Schiff bases in organic synthesis as partner in Staudinger and hetero Diels-Alder reactions, as "privileged" ligands in the organometallic complexes and as biological active Schiff intermediates/targets have been reported as well.

Silyloxyazadienes: one intermediate and two competitive pericyclic reactions.

The two competing mechanisms in the reaction of 3-trialkylsilyloxy-2-aza-1,3 dienes to form beta-lactams through a [2+2] electrocyclic ring closure or tetrahydrooxazinan-4-ones via a [4+2] hetero-Diels-Alder reaction were studied using Density Functional computations. Although the [2+2] and [4+2] mechanisms are typical of dienes, their competition, starting from the same diene intermediate, has not yet been observed and analyzed. This competition is governed by a delicate interplay between temperature and substituents at the diene and dienophile, respectively. Clearly, entropy tends to favor the [4+2] hetero-Diels-Alder at low temperatures and the [2+2] electrocyclic ring closure at high temperatures, but simple substituent modifications at the diene and dienophile, can make the [4+2] competitive at high temperatures and sometimes even transform the [4+2] concerted mechanism into a two-step Mukaiyama-type process. Moreover, a study of the global electrophilicity values showed that charge transfer in the hetero-Diels-Alder transition states is driven by chemical hardness rather than by chemical potential.

ß-Lactam Antibiotics Renaissance.

Since the 1940s ß-lactam antibiotics have been used to treat bacterial infections. However, emergence and dissemination of ß-lactam resistance has reached the point where many marketed ß-lactams no longer are clinically effective. The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and the progressive withdrawal of pharmaceutical companies from antibiotic research have evoked a strong reaction from health authorities, who have implemented initiatives to encourage the discovery of new antibacterials. Despite this gloomy scenario, several novel ß-lactam antibiotics and ß-lactamase inhibitors have recently progressed into clinical trials, and many more such compounds are being investigated. Here we seek to provide highlights of recent developments relating to the discovery of novel ß-lactam antibiotics and ß-lactamase inhibitors.