The therapy of various diseases by the drugs entrapped in calixarene derivatives is gaining attraction of researchers nowadays. Calixarenes are macrocyclic nano-baskets which belong to cavitands class of host-guest chemistry. They are the marvelous hosts with distinct hydrophobic three dimensional cavities to entrap and encapsulate biologically active guest drugs. Calixarene and its derivatives develop inclusion complexes with various types of drugs and vitamins for their sustained/targeted release. Calixarene and its derivatives are used as carriers for anti-cancer, anti-convulsant, anti-hypertensive, anthelmentic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antipsychotic drugs. They are the important biocompatible receptors to improve solubility, chemical reactivity and decrease cytotoxicity of poorly soluble drugs in supramolecular chemistry. This review focuses on the calixarene and its derivatives as the state-of-the-art in host-guest interactions for important drugs. We have also critically evaluated calixarenes for the development of prodrugs.
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) play a central role in epileptogensis and NMDAR antagonists have been shown to have antiepileptic effects in animals and humans. Despite significant progress in the development of antiepileptic therapies over the previous 3 decades, a need still exists for novel therapies. We screened an in-house library of small molecules targeting the NMDA receptor. A novel indolyl compound, 2-(1,1-Dimethyl-1,3-dihydro-benzo[e]indol-2-ylidene)-malonaldehyde, (DDBM) showed the best binding with the NMDA receptor and computational docking data showed that DDBM antagonised the binding sites of the NMDA receptor at lower docking energies compared to other molecules. Using a rat electroconvulsive shock (ECS) model of epilepsy we showed that DDBM decreased seizure duration and improved the histological outcomes. Our data show for the first time that indolyls like DDBM have robust anticonvulsive activity and have the potential to be developed as novel anticonvulsants.
Several novel 1-[2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl) ethyl]-1H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazoles (3a-h) have been synthesized by the condensation of 1-[2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-ethyl]-1H-benzotriazole (2) and appropriate acid chlorides. 1-[2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-ethyl]-1H-benzotriazole (2) was synthesized by reacting 3-(1H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-1-yl)propanenitrile with sodium azide and ammonium chloride in the presence of dimethylformamide. The synthesized compounds were characterized by IR and PMR analysis. The titled compounds were evaluated for their in-vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity by the cup plate method and anticonvulsant activity evaluated by the maximal electroshock induced convulsion method in mice. All synthesized compounds exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and moderate antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Compounds 5-(2-(1H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazo-1-yl)ethyl)-1H-tetrazol-1-yl)(4-aminophenyl)methanone 3d and 5-(2-(1 H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazo-1-yl)ethyl)-1H-tetrazol-1-yl)(2-aminophenyl)methanone 3e elicited excellent anticonvulsant activity.