The present article describes the synthesis, in vitro urease inhibition and in silico molecular docking studies of a novel series of bi-heterocyclic bi-amides. The synthesis of title compounds was initiated by benzoylation, with benzoyl chloride (1), of the key starter ethyl 2-(2-amino-1,3-thiazol-4-yl)acetate (2) in weak basic aqueous medium followed by hydrazide formation, 4, and cyclization with CS2 to reach the parent bi-heterocyclic nucleophile, N-{4-[(5-sulfanyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)methyl]-1,3-thiazol-2-yl}benzamide (5). Various electrophiles, 8a-l, were synthesized by a two-step process and these were finally coupled with 5 to yield the targeted bi-heterocyclic bi-amide molecules, 9a-l. The structures of the newly synthesized products were corroborated by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, EI-MS and elemental analysis. The in vitro screening of these molecules against urease explored that most of the compounds exhibit potent inhibitory potential against this enzyme. The compound 9j, with IC50 value of 2.58 ± 0.02 µM, exhibited most promising inhibitory activity among the series, relative to standard thiourea having IC50 value of 21.11 ± 0.12 µM. In silico studies fully augmented the experimental enzyme inhibition results. Chemo-informatics analysis showed that synthesized compounds (9a-l) mostly obeyed the Lipinski's rule. Molecular docking study suggested that ligand 9j exhibited good binding energy value (-7.10 kcal/mol) and binds within the active region of target protein. So, on the basis of present investigation, it was inferred that 9j may serve as a novel scaffold for designing more potent urease inhibitors.
Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) play diverse roles in various cellular processes that involve DNA repair and programmed cell death. Amongst these polymerases is PARP-1 which is the key DNA damage-sensing enzyme that acts as an initiator for the DNA repair mechanism. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) is an enzyme in the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway which is an important target for anti-hyperproliferative and anti-inflammatory drug design. Since these enzymes share a common role in the DNA replication and repair mechanisms, it may be beneficial to target both PARP-1 and DHODH in attempts to design new anti-cancer agents. Benzimidazole derivatives have shown a wide variety of pharmacological activities including PARP and DHODH inhibition. We hereby report the design, synthesis and bioactivities of a series of benzimidazole derivatives as inhibitors of both the PARP-1 and DHODH enzymes.
Extensive chromatographic separations performed on the basic (pH=8-10) chloroform soluble fraction of Aconitum heterophyllum resulted in the isolation of three new diterpenoid alkaloids, 6β-Methoxy, 9β-dihydroxylheteratisine (1), 1α,11,13β-trihydroxylhetisine (2), 6,15β-dihydroxylhetisine (3), and the known compounds iso-atisine (4), heteratisine (5), hetisinone (6), 19-epi-isoatisine (7), and atidine (8). Structures of the isolated compounds were established by means of mass and NMR spectroscopy as well as single crystal X-ray crystallography. Compounds 1-8 were screened for their antioxidant and enzyme inhibition activities followed by in silico studies to find out the possible inhibitory mechanism of the tested compounds. This work is the first report demonstrating significant antioxidant and anticholinesterase potentials of diterpenoid alkaloids isolated from a natural source.
Dihydropyrimidones 1-37 were synthesized via a 'one-pot' three component reaction according to well-known Biginelli reaction by utilizing Cu(NO3)2·3H2O as catalyst, and screened for their in vitro β-glucuronidase inhibitory activity. It is worth mentioning that amongst the active molecules, compounds 8 (IC50=28.16±.056μM), 9 (IC50=18.16±0.41μM), 10 (IC50=22.14±0.43μM), 13 (IC50=34.16±0.65μM), 14 (IC50=17.60±0.35μM), 15 (IC50=15.19±0.30μM), 16 (IC50=27.16±0.48μM), 17 (IC50=48.16±1.06μM), 22 (IC50=40.16±0.85μM), 23 (IC50=44.16±0.86μM), 24 (IC50=47.16±0.92μM), 25 (IC50=18.19±0.34μM), 26 (IC50=33.14±0.68μM), 27 (IC50=44.16±0.94μM), 28 (IC50=24.16±0.50μM), 29 (IC50=34.24±0.47μM), 31 (IC50=14.11±0.21μM) and 32 (IC50=9.38±0.15μM) found to be more potent than the standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC50=48.4±1.25μM). Molecular docking study was conducted to establish the structure-activity relationship (SAR) which demonstrated that a number of structural features of dihydropyrimidone derivatives were involved to exhibit the inhibitory potential. All compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as (1)H, (13)C NMR, EIMS and HREI-MS.
A significant acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity was observed for the hexane extract from the bark of Mesua elegans (Clusiaceae). Thus, the hexane extract was subjected to chemical investigation, which led to the isolation of nine 4-phenylcoumarins, in which three are new; mesuagenin A (1), mesuagenin C (3), mesuagenin D (4) and one new natural product; mesuagenin B (2). The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized by spectroscopic data interpretation, especially 1D and 2D NMR. Four compounds showed significant AChE inhibitory activity, with mesuagenin B (2) being the most potent (IC(50)=0.7μM).
Five new cytotoxic limonoids, erythrocarpines A-E (1-5), were isolated from the bark of Chisocheton erythrocarpus Hiern. Chemical structures, stereochemistry, and conformation were fully elucidated and characterized by 2D NMR, MS, and computational methods.
Peptides are of great interest to be used as vaccine antigens due to their safety, ease of manufacturing and specificity in generating immune response. There have been massive discoveries of peptide antigens over the past decade. However, peptides alone are poorly immunogenic, which demand co-administration with strong adjuvant to enhance their immunogenicity. Recently, fibril-forming peptides such as Q11 and lipoamino acid-based carrier have been identified to induce substantial immune responses when covalently linked to peptide epitope. In this study, we have incorporated either Q11 or lipoamino acids to a peptide epitope (J14) derived from M protein of group A streptococcus to develop self-adjuvanting vaccines. J14, Q11 and lipoamino acids were also conjugated together in a single vaccine construct in an attempt to evaluate the synergy effect of combining multiple adjuvants. Physicochemical characterization demonstrated that the vaccine constructs folded differently and self-assembled into nanoparticles. Significantly, only vaccine constructs containing double copies of lipoamino acids (regardless in conjugation with Q11 or not) were capable to induce significant dendritic cells uptake and subsequent J14-specific antibody responses in non-sizes dependent manners. Q11 had minimal impact in enhancing the immunogenicity of J14 even when it was used in combination with lipoamino acids. These findings highlight the impact of lipoamino acids moiety as a promising immunostimulant carrier and its number of attachment to peptide epitope was found to have a profound effect on the vaccine immunogenicity.
The spread of drug-resistant bacteria has imparted a sense of urgency in the search for new antibiotics. In an effort to develop a new generation of antibacterial agents, we have designed de novo charged lipopeptides inspired by natural antimicrobial peptides. These short lipopeptides are composed of cationic lysine and hydrophobic lipoamino acids that replicate the amphiphilic properties of natural antimicrobial peptides. The resultant lipopeptides were found to self-assemble into nanoparticles. Some were effective against a variety of Gram-positive bacteria, including strains resistant to methicillin, daptomycin and/or vancomycin. The lipopeptides were not toxic to human kidney and liver cell lines and were highly resistant to tryptic degradation. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of bacteria cells treated with lipopeptide showed membrane-damage and lysis with extrusion of cytosolic contents. With such properties in mind, these lipopeptides have the potential to be developed as new antibacterial agents against drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria.
We describe here the synthesis of dihydropyrimidines derivatives 3a-p, and evaluation of their α-glucosidase enzyme inhibition activities. Compounds 3b (IC50=62.4±1.5 μM), 3c (IC50=25.3±1.26 μM), 3d (IC50=12.4±0.15 μM), 3e (IC50=22.9±0.25 μM), 3g (IC50=23.8±0.17 μM), 3h (IC50=163.3±5.1 μM), 3i (IC50=30.6±0.6 μM), 3m (IC50=26.4±0.34 μM), and 3o (IC50=136.1±6.63 μM) were found to be potent α-glucosidase inhibitors in comparison to the standard drug acarbose (IC50=840±1.73 μM). The compounds were also evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against PC-3, HeLa, and MCF-3 cancer cell lines, and 3T3 mouse fibroblast cell line. All compounds were found to be non cytotoxic, except compounds 3f and 3m (IC50=17.79±0.66-20.44±0.30 μM), which showed a weak cytotoxic activity against the HeLa, and 3T3 cell lines. In molecular docking simulation study, all the compounds were docked into the active site of the predicted homology model of α-glucosidase enzyme. From the docking result, it was observed that most of the synthesized compounds showed interaction through carbonyl oxygen atom and polar phenyl ring with active site residues of the enzyme.
Novel thiazolopyrimidine derivatives have been synthesized via microwave assisted, domino cascade methodology in ionic liquid and evaluated in vitro for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities. Among the newly synthesized compounds 6d, 6a, 6e and 6b displayed higher AChE inhibitory activity than standard drug, galanthamine, with IC50 values of 0.53, 1.47, 1.62 and 2.05μM, respectively. Interestingly, all the compounds except for 6m-r and 6x displayed higher BChE inhibitory potentials than galanthamine with IC50 values ranging from 1.09 to 18.56μM. Molecular docking simulations for 6d possessing the most potent AChE and BChE inhibitory activities, disclosed its binding interactions at the active site gorge of AChE and BChE enzymes.
A series of hitherto unreported pyrido-pyrimidine-2-ones/pyrimidine-2-thiones were synthesized under microwave assisted solvent free reaction conditions in excellent yields and evaluated in vitro for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes inhibitory activity. Among the pyridopyrimidine derivatives, 7e and 7l displayed 2.5- and 1.5-fold higher enzyme inhibitory activities against AChE as compared to standard drug, galanthamine, with IC50 of 0.80 and 1.37 μM, respectively. Interestingly, all the compounds except 6k, 7j and 7k displayed higher inhibitory potential against BChE enzyme in comparison to standard with IC50 ranging from 1.18 to 18.90 μM. Molecular modeling simulations of 7e and 7l was performed using three-dimensional structure of Torpedo californica AChE (TcAChE) and human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE) enzymes to disclose binding interaction and orientation of these molecule into the active site gorge of respective receptors.
A facile stereoselective synthesis of novel dispiro indeno pyrrolidine/pyrrolothiazole-thiochroman hybrids has been achieved by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides, generated in situ from ninhydrin and sarcosine/thiaproline, on a series of 3-benzylidenethiochroman-4-ones. The synthesised compounds were screened for their antimycobacterial, anticancer and AchE inhibition activities. Compound 4l (IC50 1.07μM) has been found to exhibit the most potent antimycobacterial activity compared to cycloserine (12 times), pyrimethamine (37 times) and ethambutol (IC50 <1.56μM) and 6l (IC50=2.87μM) is more active than both cycloserine (4 times) and pyrimethamine (12 times). Three compounds, 4a, 6b and 6i, display good anticancer activity against CCRF-CEM cell lines. Compounds 6g and 4g display maximum AchE inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 1.10 and 1.16μmol/L respectively.
Three series of sulfonamides incorporating long, bulky tails were obtained by applying synthetic strategies in which substituted anthranilic acids, quinazolines and aromatic sulfonamides have been used as starting materials. They incorporate long, bulky diamide-, 4-oxoquinazoline-3-yl- or quinazoline-4-yl moieties in their molecules, and were investigated for the inhibition of four physiologically relevant carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) isoforms, the cytosolic human (h) hCA I and II, as well as the transmembrane hCA IX and XII. Most of the new sulfonamides showed excellent inhibitory effects against the four isoforms, with KIs of 7.6-322nM against hCA I, of 0.06-85.4nM against hCA II; of 6.7-152nM against hCA IX and of 0.49-237nM against hCA XII; respectively. However no relevant isoform-selective behavior has been observed for any of them, although hCA II and XII, isoforms involved in glaucoma-genesis were the most inhibited ones. The structure-activity relationship for inhibiting the four CAs with these derivatives is discussed in detail.
Condensation of substituted anthranilic acids with 4-isothiocyanatoethyl-benzenesulfonamide led to series of heterocyclic benzenesulfonamides incorporating 2-mercapto-quinazolin-4-one tails. These sulfonamides were investigated as inhibitors of the human carbonic anhydrase (hCA, EC 4.2.1.1) isoforms hCA I and II (cytosolic isozymes), as well as hCA XII (a transmembrane, tumor-associated enzyme also involved in glaucoma-genesis). The new sulfonamides acted as medium potency inhibitors of hCA I (KIs of 28.5-2954nM), being highly effective as hCA II (KIs in the range of 0.62-12.4nM) and XII (KIs of 0.54-7.11nM) inhibitors. All substitution patterns present in these compounds (e.g., halogens, methyl and methoxy moieties, in positions 6, 7 and/or 8 of the 2-mercapto-quinazolin-4-one ring) led to highly effective hCA II/XII inhibitors. These compounds should thus be of interest as preclinical candidates in pathologies in which the activity of these enzymes should be inhibited, such as glaucoma (CA II and XII as targets) or some tumors in which the activity of isoforms CA II and XII is dysregulated.
We report a series of novel metanilamide-based derivatives 3a-q bearing the 2-mercapto-4-oxo-4H-quinazolin-3-yl moiety as tail. All compounds were synthesized by means of straightforward condensation procedures and were investigated in vitro for their inhibition potency against the human (h) carbonic anhydrase (CA; EC 4.2.1.1.1) isoforms I, II, IX and XII. Among all compounds tested the 6-iodo 3g and the 7-fluoro 3i derivatives were the most potent inhibitors against the tumor associated CA IX and XII isoform (KIs 1.5 and 2.7nM respectively for the hCA IX and KIs 0.57 and 1.9nM respectively for the hCA XII). The kinetic data reported here strongly support compounds of this type for their future development as radiotracers in tumor pathologies which are strictly dependent on the enzymatic activity of the hCA IX and XII isoforms.
Herein we report for the first time a series of 2-benzamido-N-(2-oxo-4-(methyl/trifluoromethyl)-2H-chromen-7-yl) benzamide 3a-f and substituted quinazolin-4(3H)-ones and 2H-benzo[e][1,2,4]thiadiazin-3(4H)-one 1,1-dioxides (5, 6, 8 and 10a-c) as selective inhibitors of the tumor associated hCA IX and XII isoforms. Among the compounds reported the trifluoromethyl derivative 3d resulted the most potent against these CA isoforms with KIs of 10.9 and 6.7nM.
A series of densely functionalized piperidine (FP) scaffolds was synthesized following a diastereoselective one-pot multicomponent protocol under eco-friendly conditions. The FPs were evaluated in vitro for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity, and in silico studies for all the target compounds were carried out using pharmacophore mapping, molecular docking and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis in order to understand the structural features required for interaction with the AChE enzyme and the key active site residues involved in the intermolecular interactions. Halogenation, nitration or 3,4-methylenedixoxy-substitution at the phenyl ring attached to the 2- and 6-positions of 1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine nucleus in compounds 14-17, 19, 20, 24 and 26 greatly enhanced the AChE inhibitory activity. The docking analysis demonstrated that the inhibitors are well-fitted in the active sites. The in silico studies enlighten the future course of studies in modifying the scaffolds for better therapeutic efficacy against the deadly Alzheimer's disease.
Arachidonic acid and its metabolites have generated high level of interest among researchers due to their vital role in inflammation. The inhibition of enzymes involved in arachidonic acid metabolism has been considered as synergistic anti-inflammatory effect. A series of novel α,β-unsaturated carbonyl based compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity on secretory phospholipase A₂ (sPLA₂), cyclooxygenases (COX), soybean lipoxygenase (LOX) in addition to proinflammatory cytokines comprising IL-6 and TNF-α. Six α,β-unsaturated carbonyl based compounds (2, 3, 4, 12, 13 and 14) exhibited strong inhibition of sPLA₂ activity, with IC₅₀ values in the range of 2.19-8.76 μM. Nine compounds 1-4 and 10-14 displayed inhibition of COX-1 with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.37 to 1.77 μM (lower than that of reference compound), whereas compounds 2, 10, 13 and 14 strongly inhibited the COX-2. The compounds 10-14 exhibited strong inhibitory activity against LOX enzyme. All compounds were evaluated for the inhibitory activities against LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-6 release in the macrophages. On the basis of screening results, five active compounds 3, 4, 12, 13 and 14 were found strong inhibitors of TNF-α and IL-6 release in a dose-dependent manner. Molecular docking experiments were performed to clarify the molecular aspects of the observed COX and LOX inhibitory activities of the investigated compounds. Present findings increases the possibility that these α,β-unsaturated carbonyl based compounds might serve as beneficial starting point for the design and development of improved anti-inflammatory agents.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with multiple factors associated with its pathogenesis. Our strategy against AD involves design of multi-targeted 2-substituted-4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazole analogues which can interact and inhibit AChE, thereby, increasing the synaptic availability of ACh, inhibit BuChE, relieve induced oxidative stress and confer a neuroprotective role. Molecular docking was employed to study interactions within the AChE active site. In silico ADME study was performed to estimate pharmacokinetic parameters. Based on computational studies, some analogues were synthesized and subjected to pharmacological evaluation involving antioxidant activity, toxicity and memory model studies in animals followed by detailed mechanistic in vitro cholinesterase inhibition study. Amongst the series, analogue 13 and 20 are the most promising multi-targeted candidates which can potentially increase memory, decrease free radical levels and protect neurons against cognitive deficit.
New sesquiterpene quinones, metachromins X (1) and Y (2), together with the known metachromins C (3), J (4), and T (5), were isolated as inhibitors of cell cycle progression in the HeLa/Fucci2 cells. The structure of 1 was assigned by spectroscopic data and confirmed by a total synthesis. The planar structure of 2 was determined by interpretation of spectroscopic data, whereas its absolute configuration was analyzed by a combination of chiral HPLC and CD spectroscopy. Metachromins X (1) and C (3) arrested the cell cycle progression of HeLa/Fucci2 cells at S/G2/M phase.