Structure–activity relationship investigation of coumarin–chalcone hybrids with diverse side-chains as acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors

Chalcones containing tertiary amine side-chains have potent activity as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors. However, the effects of the location of the tertiary amine groups as well as of other groups on AChE and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activity have not been reported. Here, we report the synthesis and testing of 36 new coumarin–chalcone hybrids (5d–7j, 9d–11f, 12k–13m) against AChE and BChE. The nature and position of the chalcone substituents had major effects on inhibitory activity as well as selectivity for AChE over BChE. Compounds with para-substituted chalcone fragments in which the substituents were choline-like had potent activity against AChE and poor activity against BChE, while ortho-substituted analogs exhibited an opposite effect. Replacement of the terminal amine groups by amide, alkyl or alkenyl groups abrogated activity. Compound 5e showed potent inhibitory activity \((\hbox {IC}_{50} = 0.15 \pm 0.01\, \upmu \hbox {mol}{/}\hbox {L}\)) and good selectivity for AChE over BChE (ratio 27.4), and a kinetic study showed that 5e exhibited mixed-type inhibition against AChE. Computational docking results indicate that 5e binds to Trp 279, Tyr334 and Trp 84 in AChE, but only to Trp 82 in BChE. Overall, the results show that coumarin–chalcone hybrids with choline-like side-chains have promising activity and selectivity against AChE and be promising therapeutic leads for Alzheimer’s disease.     

Synthesis and antifungal activity of dehydroabietic acid-based 1,3,4-thiadiazole-thiazolidinone compounds

In an attempt to search for new natural products-based antifungal agents, a series of novel dehydroabietic acid derivatives bearing a 1,3,4-thiadiazole-thiazolidinone moiety were designed and synthesized. The primary bioassay used showed that at a concentration of \(50\,\upmu \hbox {g}/\hbox {mL}\), the target compounds 3c, 3f, and 3n exhibited excellent antifungal activity (91.3 % inhibition) against Gibberella zeae, which was equivalent to the commercial antifungal drug azoxystrobin (positive control).     

Substituted <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-aminothioglycolurils containing thiosemicarbazone moiety and their cytotoxic activity in vitro

A library of hybrid molecules bearing thioglycoluril and (hetero)aromatic aldehyde thiosemicarbazone moieties was synthesized via a tandem hydrazone formation—ring contraction reaction of 5,7-dialkyl-3-thioxoperhydroimidazo[4,5-e]-1,2,4-triazin-6-ones with (hetero)aromatic aldehydes. All synthesized compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activity against rhabdomyosarcoma, A549, and MS human cancer cell lines by MTT-assay. Among the derivatives, (E)-4-benzylideneamino-1,3-dimethyl-5-thioxohexahydroimidazo[4,5-d]imidazol-2(1H)-one 1f was found to have the most marked antiproliferative activity toward the tested cell lines (1f: IC\(_{50}= 20.6,\) 23.7, and 6.4 \(\upmu \)M, respectively). The IC\(_{50}\) value of thioglycoluril 1f against normal human embryonic kidney cells HEK293 was 72.5 \(\upmu \)M, which appeared to be 3–11-fold higher than IC\(_{50}\) values of 1f against human cancer cells.     

Synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of new N- and S-glycosides analogues with dinitrophenyl-substituted heterocyclic bases

Four N- and S-glycosides 13–16 having nucleobases 7–12 binding to sugar molecules from one side and to 3,5-dinitrophenyl moieties from another side were synthesized from 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid 2. The synthetic intermediates, hydrazide 5 and thiosemicarbazide 6 regarded as important key compounds for the synthesis of nucleobases 7–12, each was obtained by two approaches. Structures of synthesized compounds were determined spectroscopically. Antibacterial activities for synthetic intermediates and glycosides were assessed using the paper disk diffusion method against Gram-negative bacteria: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Escherichia coli and Gram-positive bacteria: Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. Some of the synthetic compounds showed variant activity against some of the microorganisms tested. Nucleobases 8–10 and 12 showed moderate to slight activity against microorganisms under test at relatively high concentration, while the N-glycosides 14 and 15 exhibited persistent effect even at lower concentrations. Commercially available antibiotics polymyxine and oxytetracycline were used as positive controls.     

Synthesis and three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship study of quinazoline derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety as efficient inhibitors against <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri</Emphasis>

A series of quinazoline derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety were synthesized and evaluated for their antibacterial activities against Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac) and Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs). Antibacterial bioassays indicated that most of target compounds exhibited significant antibacterial activities against Xac and Rs in vitro. Strikingly, compounds 6d–6i, 6m–6r and 6u–6x showed antibacterial activity against Xac, with \(\hbox {EC}_{50}\) values ranging from 14.42 to 38.91 \(\upmu \)g/mL, which are better than that of bismerthiazol (39.86 \(\upmu \)g/mL). Based on the antibacterial activity against Xac, comparative molecular filed analysis and comparative molecular similarity index analysis models were generated to investigate the structure-activity relationship of title compounds against Xac. The analytical results indicated that the above models exhibited good predictive accuracy and could be used as practical tools for guiding the design and synthesis of more potent quinazoline derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety.     

A practical multi-step synthesis of ethyl N-functionalized $$\varvec{\upbeta }$$-amino benzimidazole acrylate derivatives as promising cytotoxic agents

A series of 16 new ethyl \(\upbeta \)-amino benzimidazole acrylate derivatives 12(a–p) with a (2E)-s-cis/trans conformation and bearing two points of diversity was designed and synthesized by using a multi-step strategy (reductive amination, deprotection in acidic media and transamination) in moderate to good yields from ethyl 3-dimethylamino-2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)acrylate (5) and monosubstituted N-Boc diamines (7a,7b) as starting building blocks. Products 12 were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic potential against six selected human cell lines (Huh7-D12, Caco2, MDA-MB231, HCT116, PC3 and NCI-H727). Compounds 12a, 12e and 12l exhibited selective and micromolar antitumor activities against Huh7-D12 and Caco2 cell lines.     

Conventional and microwave-assisted synthesis of new indole-tethered benzimidazole-based 1,2,3-triazoles and evaluation of their antimycobacterial,antioxidant and antimicrobial activities

A new series of triheterocycles containing indole–benzimidazole-based 1,2,3-triazole hybrids have been synthesized in good yields via a microwave-assisted click reaction. All the compounds were characterized by IR, \(^{1}\hbox {H}\) NMR, \(^{13}\hbox {C}\) NMR and mass spectroscopy and were evaluated for their in vitro antitubercular activity against the Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Compounds 4b, 4h and 4i displayed highly potent antitubercular activity with MIC 3.125–6.25 \(\upmu \hbox {g}/\hbox {mL}\). The antioxidant potential was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazine and \(\hbox {H}_{2}\hbox {O}_{2}\) radical scavenging activity, and compounds 4e,4f and 4g showed excellent radical scavenging activity with \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) values in the range of 08.50–10.05 \(\upmu \hbox {g}/\hbox {mL}\). Furthermore, the compounds were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against numerous bacterial and fungal strains, and compounds 4b, 4c and 4h were found to be the most promising potential antimicrobial molecules with MIC 3.125–6.25 \(\upmu \hbox {g}/\hbox {mL}\).     

Synthesis,insecticidal activities and structure–activity relationship study of dual chiral sulfilimines

To investigate the “methyl” impact on bioactivity of sulfiliminyl dicarboxamides, a total of 16 novel N-cyano and N-trifluoroacetyl sulfiliminyl dicarboxamides containing m-heptafluoroisopropylated aromatic amino moiety were studied. Two series of sulfiliminyl substituents were designed, synthesized and evaluated against oriental armyworm (Pseudaletia separata Walker) for their insecticidal activities. Their chemical structures were established by corresponding \(^{1}\hbox {H}\) NMR, HRMS and optical polarimetry. Bioassay results revealed that some of the title compounds showed potent insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm. Notably, compounds IIa, IIIa, IVa exhibited 100% activity at \(1\, \hbox {mg}\,\hbox {L}^{-1}\), in particular, IIa showed a comparable control efficacy to that of the commercial product flubendiamide. The SAR of these N-cyano sulfiliminyl isomers can be summarized as follows (Sc, Ss) \(\ge \) (Sc, Rs), while the N-trifluoroacetyl sulfiliminyl isomers is (Sc, Rs) \(\ge \) (Sc, Ss). Comparative molecular field analysis indicated that an electropositive substituent, \(\hbox {CH}_{3}\) group in the benzene ring was very important for the improvement in biological activity. These results could hold promise for novel chiral sulfiliminyl RyR regulators.     

Synthesis and evaluation of bile acid amides of $$\alpha $$-cyanostilbenes as anticancer agents

A series of amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene derivatives and their bile acid (cholic and deoxycholic acid) amides were designed and synthesized. A comparative study on the anticancer and antibacterial activity evaluation on the synthesized analogs was carried against the human osteosarcoma (HOS) cancer cell line, and two gram ?ve (E. coli and S. typhi) and two gram \(+\)ve (B. subtilis and S. aureus) bacterial strains. All the cholic acid \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene amides showed an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) in the range 2–13 \(\upmu \hbox {M}\) against human osteosarcoma cells (HOS) with the most active analog (6g) possessing an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) of \(2\,\upmu \hbox {M}\). One of the amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbene, 4e, was found to possess an \(\hbox {IC}_{50}\) of \(3\,\upmu \hbox {M}\). An increase in the number of cells at the sub-\(\hbox {G}_{1}\) phase of the cell was observed in the in vitro cell cycle analysis of two most active compounds in the series (4e, 6g) suggesting a clear indication toward induction of apoptotic cascade. With respect to antibacterial screening, amino-substituted \(\alpha \)-cyanostilbenes were found to be more active than their corresponding bile acid amides. The synthesized compounds were also subjected to in silico study to predict their physiochemical properties and drug-likeness score.     

The dynamic structure of <Emphasis Type="Italic">cis</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">trans</Emphasis> conformers of substituted phosphinous acids

The potential energy surfaces of bis-(trifluoromethyl)-phosphinous (III), diemthylphosphinous (IV), and bis-(pentafluorophenyl)-phosphinous (V) acids, the geometric parameters of the cis and trans conformers of these acids, and their P-O and O-H stretching vibration frequencies were calculated by the density functional theory method (PBE, 4Z). The potential energy surface sections corresponding to internal rotations about the P-O bonds were constructed, and dynamic problems for such a motion of the proton in a cyclic potential were solved by the Ritz method using a basis set of 100 trigonometric functions. According to calculations, the energy differences between the cis and trans conformers of acids III–V were of 4–7 kJ/mol, and the heights of potential barriers separating these conformers were of from 11 to 16 kJ/mol. In acids III and V, the cis, and, in IV, the trans conformer was stabler. At 298 K, only the ground vibrational states were populated for both rotamers of IV and V and the cis conformer of III. The special features of the potential of III were such that, at 298 K, the first excited vibrational level of its trans conformer was also noticeably populated.     

Synthesis of first ever 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid-appended spirooxindole-pyrrolidine derivatives and their biological applications

A series of 4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid-containing spirooxindole-pyrrolidine derivatives was synthesized via multicomponent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of azomethine ylides with new (E)-4-oxo-6-(3-phenyl-acryloyl)-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acids in good yields with high regioselectivity. The cycloadducts were characterized by analytical and spectral data including \(^{1}\hbox {H}\), \(^{13}\hbox {C}\), 2D NMR and mass spectroscopy. The structure of one of the compounds (8a) was investigated theoretically by computational techniques. DFT studies support the proposed mechanism for this cycloaddition reaction. Furthermore, antibacterial activities of the new compounds were evaluated against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. Compounds 8f, 8m and 8p showed potent inhibition activities against selected bacteria. The in vitro cytotoxicity of spirooxindole derivatives (8a–r) was evaluated against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Among the various compounds tested, compound 8f \((\hbox {IC}_{50} = 18.35~\upmu \hbox {M})\) showed significant cytotoxic activity compared to the standard drug doxorubicin \((\hbox {IC}_{50 }= 15.00~\upmu \hbox {M})\).     

Synthesis of new quinazolin-2,4-diones as anti-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Leishmania mexicana</Emphasis> agents

The quinazolin-2,4-dione moiety is found in many compounds with important biological activities making it a target for its synthesis. In this work, a one-pot three-step synthesis of new quinazolin-2,4-diones from phthalic anhydrides and their activity against Leishmania mexicana are described. The new quinazolin-2,4-diones were isolated with yields in the range of 32–70 %. All compounds displayed lower cytotoxicity in RAW 264.7 macrophage over miltefosine. Compound 6,7-dichloro-3-phenylquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione (6e) displayed an attractive profile which includes anti-Leishmania mexicana activity (\(\hbox {IC}_{50} = 6.05\) \(\upmu \)M), much lower cytotoxic activity (\(\hbox {CC}_{50} = 111\) \(\upmu \)M) and a high selective index (\(\text {SI} = 18.35\)) proving to be superior to miltefosine.     

V<Subscript>52</Subscript>O<Subscript>64</Subscript> tetragonal superstructure of cubic vanadium monoxide with vacancies in the metal sublattice

The atom-vacancy ordering of cubic vanadium monoxide VO_1.29, which has basis cubic structure B1 and structural vacancies in the metal sublattice, has been studied using the x-ray diffraction method. It has been shown that the formation of the tetragonal (space group I4₁/amd) ordered phase V₅₂O₆₄ of cubic vanadium monoxide VO_y proceeds as a first-order phase transition through the disorder-order channel including 22 nonequivalent superstructure vectors of four stars {k ₁₀}, {k ₄}, {k ₃}, and {k ₂}. The distribution function of the vanadium atoms in the V₅₂O₆₄ tetragonal superstructure has been calculated.     

Formation of the incommensurate ordered phase in TaC<Subscript>y</Subscript> carbide

Structural neutron diffraction studies indicate that only one ordered phase arises after the disorder-order transition in nonstoichiometric cubic tantalum carbide TaC_y. This phase arises in the composition range y = 0.79–0.89 due to long-term annealing with a decrease in temperature from 1600 to 300 K. It is incommensurate in the [1–11]_B1 direction, but it is close to commensurate M₆C₅ structures (C2/m and P3₁ space groups) in mutual arrangement of atoms and vacancies in nonmetallic (1–11)_B1 planes. The disorder-order transition channel that is associated with the formation of the incommensurate superstructure in TaC_y carbide includes two arms k ₅ ⁽⁶⁾ ≈ 0.473b₂ and k ₅ ⁽⁵⁾ = ?k ₅ ⁽⁶⁾ of the {k₅} star and arms of the {k₄} and {k₃} stars. The translation period of the incommensurate phase in the [1–11]_B1 direction is 8.9–9.1 nm, which is larger than that in the commensurate phase M₆C₅ by a factor of about 18.     

Galvanomagnetic properties of atomically disordered Sr<Subscript>2</Subscript>RuO<Subscript>4</Subscript> single crystals

The effect of neutron-bombardment-induced atomic disorder on the galvanomagnetic properties of Sr₂RuO₄ single crystals has been experimentally studied in a broad range of temperatures (1.7–380 K) and magnetic fields (up to 13.6 T). The disorder leads to the appearance of negative temperature coefficients for both the in-plane electric resistivity (ρ_a) and that along the c axis (ρ_c), as well as the negative magnetoresistance Δρ, which is strongly anisotropic to the magnetic field orientation (H ∥ a and H ∥ c), with the easy magnetization direction along the c axis and a weak dependence on the probing current direction in the low-temperature region. The experimental ρ_a(T) and ρ_c(T) curves obtained for the initial and radiation-disordered samples can be described within the framework of a theoretical model with two conductivity channels. The first channel corresponds to the charge carriers with increased effective masses (～10m _e , where m _e is the electron mass) and predominantly electron-electron scattering, which leads to the quadratic temperature dependences of ρ_a and ρ_c. The second channel corresponds to the charge carriers with lower effective masses exhibiting magnetic scattering at low temperatures, which leads to the temperature dependence of the ρ_{a, c}(T) ∝ 1/T type.     

Substituent Dependent Optical Properties of <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-phenyl Substituted ethenyl-<Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis>-thiophenes

Various electron donor and acceptor substituted (NO₂, CN, Cl, H, OCH₃, NH₂) p-phenyl ethenyl-E- thiophenes (1–6) were synthesized and substituent dependent optical properties (dipole moment, transition dipole moment, oscillator strength, optical band gap, hyperpolarizability) were studied using Solvatochromism and Density functional theory. It is shown that thiophene acts as a weak electron donor in presence of an electron withdrawing p-phenyl substituent (NO₂, CN, Cl), whereas thiophene acts as a weak electron acceptor in presence of an electron donating p-phenyl substituent (OCH₃, NH₂). In comparison to ethenyl thiophene 4, the HOMO-LUMO energy band gap is decreased upon increasing the electron donating or electron withdrawing capacity of p-phenyl substituent. From the excited state dipole moment calculation, it is shown that the excited state is highly dipolar for nitro and amino compounds 1 and 6, whereas compounds 2–5 show a non-polar excited state. As compared to the ethenyl thiophene 4, the first hyperpolarizability (β) increases upon substitution either with a strong electron withdrawing or strong electron donating p-phenyl substituent. A large β value is found for p-nitro phenyl ethenyl-E-thiophene and p-amino phenyl ethenyl-E- thiophene. Overall, these studies provide useful information in understanding the optical properties of phenyl and heterocyclic based ethenyl systems.     

Identification of a novel putative inhibitor of the <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Plasmodium falciparum</Emphasis> purine nucleoside phosphorylase: exploring the purine salvage pathway to design new antimalarial drugs

Malaria, a tropical parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium spp., continues to place a heavy social burden, with almost 200 million cases and more than 580,000 deaths per year. Plasmodium falciparum purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PfPNP) can be targeted for antimalarial drug design since its inhibition kills malaria parasites both in vitro and in vivo. Although the currently known inhibitors of PfPNP, immucillins, are orally available and of low toxicity to animals and humans, to the best of our knowledge, none of these compounds has entered clinical trials for the treatment of malaria. Using a pharmacophore-based virtual screening coupled to a consensual molecular docking approach, we identified 59 potential PfPNP inhibitors that are predicted to be orally absorbed in a Caco-2 cell model. Although most of these compounds are predicted to have high plasma protein binding levels, poor water solubility (except for compound 25) and CYP3A4 metabolic stability (except for 4, 7 and 8), four structures (4, 7, 8 and 25) remain as potential leads because of their plausible interaction with a specific hydrophobic pocket of PfPNP, which would confer them higher selectivity for PfPNP over human PNP. Additionally, both predicted Gibbs free energies for binding and molecular dynamics suggest that compound 4 may form a more stable complex with PfPNP than 5\(^{\prime }\)-methylthio-immucillin-H, a potent and selective inhibitor of PfPNP.     

On Monoids in the Category of Sets and Relations

The category R e l is the category of sets (objects) and relations (morphisms). Equipped with the direct product of sets, R e l is a monoidal category. Moreover, R e l is a locally posetal 2-category, since every homset R e l(A,B) is a poset with respect to inclusion. We examine the 2-category of monoids R e l M o n in this category. The morphism we use are lax. This category includes, as subcategories, various interesting classes: hypergroups, partial monoids (which include various types of quantum logics, for example effect algebras) and small categories. We show how the 2-categorical structure gives rise to several previously defined notions in these categories, for example certain types of congruence relations on generalized effect algebras. This explains where these definitions come from.     

Radiation of electromagnetic waves by a dipole in an external uniform electrostatic field

Exact solution for the electromagnetic field densities E and H of a dipole of uniformly accelerated point-charges with identical masses is discussed. It is shown that, for any fixed time t and a large distance R between the center of the dipole and the fieldpoint, |E| ~ R ^?4, |H| ~ R ^?5, while for large c|t| ~ R, |E| ~ |H| ~1/R as in spherical electromagnetic waves. Nevertheless, any irreversible radiation of electromagnetic waves is absent since the wave zone does not exist.