Aminoglycoside Conjugation for RNA Targeting: Antimicrobials and Beyond

Natural aminoglycosides are therapeutically useful antibiotics and very efficient RNA ligands. They are oligosaccharides that contain several ammonium groups able to interfere with the translation process in prokaryotes upon binding to bacterial ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and thus, impairing protein synthesis. Even if aminoglycosides are commonly used in therapy, these RNA binders lack selectivity and are able to bind to a wide number of RNA sequences/structures. This is one of the reasons for their toxicity and limited applications in therapy. At the same time, the ability of aminoglycosides to bind to various RNAs renders them a great source of inspiration for the synthesis of new binders with improved affinity and specificity toward several therapeutically relevant RNA targets. Thus, a number of studies have been performed on these complex and highly functionalized compounds, leading to the development of various synthetic methodologies toward the synthesis of conjugated aminoglycosides. The aim of this review is to highlight recent progress in the field of aminoglycoside conjugation, paying particular attention to modifications performed toward the improvement of affinity and especially to the selectivity of the resulting compounds. This will help readers to understand how to introduce a desired chemical modification for future developments of RNA ligands as antibiotics, antiviral, and anticancer compounds.     

Dual-Acting Small-Molecule Inhibitors Targeting Mycobacterial DNA Replication

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a pathogenic bacterium and a causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), a disease that kills more than 1.5 million people worldwide annually. One of the main reasons for this high mortality rate is the evolution of new Mtb strains that are resistant to available antibiotics. Therefore, new therapeutics for TB are in constant demand. Here, we report the development of small-molecule inhibitors that target two DNA replication enzymes of Mtb, namely DnaG primase and DNA gyrase (Gyr), which share a conserved TOPRIM fold near the inhibitors’ binding site. The molecules were developed on the basis of previously reported inhibitors for T7 DNA primase that bind near the TOPRIM fold. To improve the physicochemical properties of the molecules as well as their inhibitory effect on primase and gyrase, 49 novel compounds have been synthesized as potential drug candidates in three stages of optimization. The last stage of chemical optimization yielded two novel inhibitors for both Mtb DnaG and Gyr that also showed inhibitory activity toward the fast-growing non-pathogenic model Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msmg).     

The Electrophilic Fluorination of Enol Esters Using SelectFluor: A Polar Two-Electron Process

The reaction of enol esters with SelectFluor is facile and leads to the corresponding α-fluoroketones under mild conditions and, as a result, this route is commonly employed for the synthesis of medicinally important compounds such as fluorinated steroids. However, despite the use of this methodology in synthesis, the mechanism of this reaction and the influence of structure on reactivity are unclear. A rigorous mechanistic study of the fluorination of these substrates is presented, informed primarily by detailed and robust kinetic experiments. The results of this study implicate a polar two-electron process via an oxygen-stabilised carbenium species, rather than a single-electron process involving radical intermediates. The structure–reactivity relationships revealed here will assist synthetic chemists in deploying this type of methodology in the syntheses of α-fluoroketones.     

Extensive Structure–Activity Relationship Study of Albicidin's C-Terminal Dipeptidic p-Aminobenzoic Acid Moiety

Albicidin is a recently described natural product that strongly inhibits bacterial DNA gyrase. The pronounced activity, particularly against Gram-negative bacteria, turns it into a promising lead structure for an antibacterial drug. Hence, structure–activity relationship studies are key for the in-depth understanding of structural features/moieties affecting gyrase inhibition, antibacterial activity and overcoming resistance. The 27 newly synthesized albicidins give profound insights into possibilities for variations of the C-terminus. Furthermore, in the present study, a novel derivative has been identified as overcoming resistance posed by the Klebsiella-protease AlbD. Structural modifications include, for example, azahistidine replacing the previous instable cyanoalanine as the central amino acid, as well as a triazole amide bond isostere between building blocks D and E.     

应用手持技术实验探究氯离子浓度对氯离子效应的影响*——以镁与盐酸的反应为例

氯离子的存在可以加速一些有金属参与的化学反应的速率,形成“氯离子效应”。以镁条与稀盐酸反应为例,应用手持技术数字化实验探究氯离子浓度对氯离子效应的影响。研究发现,氯离子浓度在0.03～0.83 mol/L,增大氯离子浓度会导致化学反应速率增大,氯离子效应增强;氯离子浓度是影响化学反应速率的因素之一。提出了该实验的教学应用方案和后续的研究建议。     

非酯类拟除虫菊酯研究进展

从结构活性关系和合成方面综述了非酯类拟除虫菊酯的研究进展。     

二硒化钼纳米球储锂和储镁的性能和机理研究

二硒化钼是一种二维过渡金属硫族化合物材料,凭借其具有较快的离子迁移率、较弱的范德华力的层状结构,在锂离子电池的应用研究中吸引了广泛的关注。同时在镁离子电池应用中表现出潜在的研究前景。然而,有关二硒化钼在锂离子电池中的报道多集中在如何提高储锂性能上,对其离子存储机理缺乏深入研究。此外,在储镁性能和机理上均没有报道。本项工作通过湿化学和高温煅烧两步法合成了二硒化钼纳米球,当二硒化钼纳米球用作锂离子电池负极材料时,在5 A·g^-1的电流密度下展示了高于100 mAh·g^-1的优异高倍率容量;同时,作为镁离子电池正极材料时,在20 mA·g^-1的电流密度下表现出了120 mAh·g^-1的高储镁可逆容量。另外,通过电化学、原位和非原位X射线衍射表征技术,分别揭示了二硒化钼纳米球低平台发生的转化式和高平台发生的类锂硒电池反应并存的储锂机理,以及赝电容式为主,嵌入式为辅的储镁机理。本项工作不仅为二维过渡金属硫族化合物材料的储锂机理提供了深刻的理解,同时也为新型层状储能材料的设计开发提供了方向。     

Antifungal activity of cinnamic acid and benzoic acid esters against Candida albicans strains

Candida albicans is an important opportunistic fungal pathogen capable of provoking infection in humans. In the present study, we evaluated the antifungal effect of 23 ester derivatives of the cinnamic and benzoic acids against 3 C. albicans strains (ATCC-76645, LM-106 and LM-23), as well as discuss their Structure–Activity Relationship (SAR). The antifungal assay results revealed that the screened compounds exhibited different levels of activity depending on structural variation. Among the ester analogues, methyl caffeate (5) and methyl 2-nitrocinnamate (10) were the analogues that presented the best antifungal effect against all C. albicans strains, presenting the same MIC values (MIC = 128 μg/mL), followed by methyl biphenyl-2-carboxylate (21) (MIC = 128, 128 and 256 μg/mL for C. albicans LM-106, LM-23, and ATCC-76645, respectively). Our results suggest that certain molecular characteristics are important for the antifungal action.     

类固相法快速合成高钙镁离子交换性能的P型分子筛

以硅铝干凝胶为硅源和铝源,氢氧化钠为碱源,采用类固相法快速合成了P型分子筛,并通过X射线衍射（XRD）、扫描电镜（SEM）等手段对产品进行了表征分析。结果表明,硅铝干凝胶的组成n_SiO2/n_Al2O3=5,晶化时间和晶化温度分别为3 h、140℃,原料的组成n_Na2O/n_SiO2、n_H2O/n_SiO2=18.51时,可制备形貌均一、结晶良好的P型分子筛产品。与传统水热法相比,该方法极大地减少了合成过程的用水量,缩短了晶化时间,提高了产品的钙镁离子交换性能,从整体上优化了P型分子筛的合成工艺。     

Role of steric effects in protein-directed enediyne cycloaromatization of neocarzinostatin

The antibiotic neocarzinostatin comprises a carrier protein with a well-defined cavity for accommodating an active enediyne chromophore. The protein has two disulfides, one (Cys(37)-Cys(47)) lies on the cavity bottom and the other (Cys(88)-Cys(93)) in a constrained short loop. When the chromophore is not bound to the protein, a thiol-induced cycloaromatization of the enediyne into a tetrahydroindacene derivative is responsible for the potent antitumor activity. When it is protein-bound, the protein diverts the cycloaromatization pathway to form a distinct hydroxyisochromene-type product. How the protein directs the enediyne chemistry is an interesting puzzle, and various suggestions have been proposed in the past. We screened more than fifty thiols and manipulated conditions to locate reaction features and search for factors that could influence the protein directing strength. Thiol- and oxygen-concentration-dependence studies suggested that disulfides, which maintain the steric rigidity of the protein, could play a key role in diverting the cycloaromatization pathway. For direct proofs, we made mutations at each of the two disulfides by replacing sulfur atoms with oxygen. Circular dichroism and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy studies suggested that the mutations changed neither the protein conformation nor the ligand interactions. Analyses of the thiol-induced cycloaromatization revealed that rupture of Cys(37)-Cys(47) made the protein almost completely lose its chemical directing ability, whereas rupture of Cys(88)-Cys(93) had only a minor influence. The results demonstrated that the steric rigidity of the binding cavity, but not necessary the whole protein, played an important role in the protein-directed mechanism.     

Synthesis of All Stereoisomers of RK460 and Evaluation of Their Activity and Selectivity as Abscisic Acid Receptor Antagonists

The PYR/PYL/RCAR protein families have recently emerged as receptors of the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA, 1 ), which regulates plant responses to environmental stress. These families have multiple members with different physiological actions, and so selective agonists or antagonists are needed both as tools to elucidate functional differences and as lead compounds for agrochemicals. We previously identified RK460 (rac- 3 a ) as a PYR1-selective antagonist, and showed that it possesses five stereocenters on a 6,5-cis-bicyclo skeleton. Here, we synthesized all the stereoisomers of RK460 and evaluated their activity towards a panel of receptors. Relative stereochemistry as well as absolute stereochemistry was important for selective action.     

Hybridized particle swarm algorithm for adaptive structure training of multilayer feed-forward neural network: QSAR studies of bioactivity of organic compounds

The multilayer feed-forward ANN is an important modeling technique used in QSAR studying. The training of ANN is usually carried out only to optimize the weights of the neural network and without paying attention to the network topology. Some other strategies used to train ANN are, first, to discover an optimum structure of the network, and then to find weights for an already defined structure. These methods tend to converge to local optima, and may also lead to overfitting. In this article, a hybridized particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach was applied to the neural network structure training (HPSONN). The continuous version of PSO was used for the weight training of ANN, and the modified discrete PSO was applied to find appropriate the network architecture. The network structure and connectivity are trained simultaneously. The two versions of PSO can jointly search the global optimal ANN architecture and weights. A new objective function is formulated to determine the appropriate network architecture and optimum value of the weights. The proposed HPSONN algorithm was used to predict carcinogenic potency of aromatic amines and biological activity of a series of distamycin and distamycin-like derivatives. The results were compared to those obtained by PSO and GA training in which the network architecture was kept fixed. The comparison demonstrated that the HPSONN is a useful tool for training ANN, which converges quickly towards the optimal position, and can avoid overfitting in some extent.     

Stability of B12(CN)122−: Implications for Lithium and Magnesium Ion Batteries

Multiply charged negative ions are seldom stable in the gas phase. Electrostatic repulsion leads either to autodetachment of electrons or fragmentation of the parent ion. With a binding energy of the second electron at 0.9 eV, B₁₂H₁₂^2? is a classic example of a stable dianion. It is shown here that ligand substitution can lead to unusually stable multiply charged anions. For example, dodecacyanododecaborate, B₁₂(CN)₁₂^2?, created by substituting H by CN is found to be highly stable with the second electron bound by 5.3 eV, which is six times larger than that in the B₁₂H₁₂^2?. Equally important is the observation that CB₁₁(CN)₁₂^2?, which contains one electron more than needed to satisfy the Wade‐Mingos rule, is also stable with its second electron bound by 1.1 eV, while CB₁₁H₁₂^2? is unstable. The ability to stabilize multiply charged anions in the gas phase by ligand manipulation opens a new door for multiply charged species with potential applications as halogen‐free electrolytes in ion batteries.     

Specific Reactions of RSNO,HSNO, and HNO and Their Applications in the Design of Fluorescent Probes

Nitric oxide (NO)-derived species play essential roles in regulating cellular responses. Among these species, S-nitrosothiols (including RSNO and HSNO) and nitroxyl (HNO) are especially interesting. Owing to their high reactivity and short survival time, the detection of these molecules in biological settings can be challenging. In this regard, much effort has been invested in exploring novel reactions of RSNO/HSNO/HNO and applying these reactions to develop fluorescence probes. Herein, reported specific reactions of RSNO/HSNO/HNO are summarized and strategies used in the design of fluorescent probes are illustrated. The properties and potential problems of representative probes are also discussed.     

A Chemical History of Polycyclic Musks

Musk odorants are ubiquitous in fine perfumery as well as household products, and are divided into four main families, the nitromusks, the macrocyclic musks, the polycyclic aromatic musks, and the alicyclic musks, following their order of appearance on the perfumery market. This article presents the scientific and industrial adventures during the discovery of the seven commercial polycyclic musks, which invigorated the aroma chemistry corporations during the second half of the 20th century, resulting in relentless competition. Research and development strategies are exposed, and reactivity, analytical, mechanistic, and structure–activity relationships aspects are discussed as well as some biographical elements of the main scientific actors, and some fine perfumery examples are given as illustrations of their use.     

Ultrafast Dynamics and Photoresponse of a Fungi-Derived Pigment Xylindein from Solution to Thin Films

Organic semiconductor materials have recently gained momentum due to their non-toxicity, low cost, and sustainability. Xylindein is a remarkably photostable pigment secreted by fungi that grow on decaying wood, and its relatively strong electronic performance is enabled by π–π stacking and hydrogen-bonding network that promote charge transport. Herein, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy with a near-IR probe was used to unveil a rapid excited-state intramolecular proton transfer reaction. Conformational motions potentially lead to a conical intersection that quenches fluorescence in the monomeric state. In concentrated solutions, nascent aggregates exhibit a faster excited state lifetime due to excimer formation, confirmed by the excimer→charge-transfer excited-state absorption band of the xylindein thin film, thus limiting its optoelectronic performance. Therefore, extending the xylindein sidechains with branched alkyl groups may hinder the excimer formation and improve optoelectronic properties of naturally derived materials.     

Divergent Solid-Phase Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Yaku'amide B and Its Seven E/Z Isomers

Yaku′amide B ( 1 ) inhibits cancer cell growth through a unique mechanism of action. Compound 1 binds to mitochondrial F_oF₁-ATP synthase, inhibits ATP production, and enhances ATP hydrolysis. The presence of one (E)- and two (Z)-α,β-dehydroisoleucines (ΔIle) in the linear 13-mer sequence is the most unusual structural feature of 1 . To uncover the biological importance of these residues, we synthesized 1 and its seven E/Z isomers 2 – 8 by devising a new divergent solid-phase strategy. Both the (E)- and (Z)-ΔIle residues were stereoselectively constructed by traceless Staudinger ligation on resin to ultimately deliver 1 – 8 . All isomers 2 – 8 displayed effects on the inhibition of cell growth and ATP production, and enhanced ATP hydrolysis, thus indicating that 2 – 8 share the same mode of action as 1 . The least potent isomer, 8 , was isomeric at three ΔIle residues of the most potent 1 . These findings together indicate that the E/Z stereochemistry of the three ΔIle residues controls the magnitude of the biological functions of 1 .     

Rapid Photolysis-Mediated Folding of Disulfide-Rich Peptides

Structure–activity relationship studies are a highly time-consuming aspect of peptide-based drug development, particularly in the assembly of disulfide-rich peptides, which often requires multiple synthetic steps and purifications. Therefore, it is vital to develop rapid and efficient chemical methods to readily access the desired peptides. We have developed a photolysis-mediated “one-pot” strategy for regioselective disulfide bond formation. The new pairing system utilises two ortho-nitroveratryl protected cysteines to generate two disulfide bridges in less than one hour in good yield. This strategy was applied to the synthesis of complex disulfide-rich peptides such as Rho-conotoxin ρ-TIA and native human insulin.