N-terminus FITC labeling of peptides on solid support: the truth behind the spacer

Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) is an amine reactive derivative of fluorescein dye that has wide ranging application in biochemistry. It has been extensively used to label peptides and proteins. However, its use in solid phase peptide synthesis is restricted. Indeed, in acidic conditions required for linker cleavage, N-ter FITC-labeled peptides undergo a cyclization leading to the formation of a fluorescein with subsequent removal of the last amino acid. This can be avoided when a spacer such as amino hexanoic acid is used or if non-acidic cleavage is operated to release targeted peptide from the resin.     

Photosensitization of Chinese hamster cells by water-soluble phthalocyanines

Abstract— Phthalocyanines are efficient photosensitizers of cultured mammalian cells and are considered for use in photodynamic therapy. The photobiological properties of chloroaluminum phthalocyanine sulfonate (AIPCS) were compared to those of the unsubstituted, water-insoluble derivative (AIPC). The development of photosensitization after addition of the dye into growth medium is ca. 8 times more rapid for AlPC than for AIPCS. Conversely, the loss of photosensitization when cells are incubated in a dye-free growth medium following a period of dye uptake, is also faster for AIPC. The dye uptake followed a kinetic behavior similar to the development of photosensitivity, but the loss of dye was too slow for both AlPC and AIPCS to explain loss of photosensitivity. When cells are incubated prior to illumination with AIPCS in phosphate buffered saline instead of growth medium, shorter time and smaller amount of dye are required to achieve the same level of photosensitization. The dependence of photosensitivity on dye concentration is linear for both AIPC and AIPCS. As already found for AIPC, photosensitization by the water-soluble derivative is also not enhanced in D₂O, suggesting that singlet oxygen is not involved in the cytotoxic response. Sodium salicylate, which was found to enhance the effect of AlPC was also effective with AIPCS. This effect is quite specific since the meta and para isomers had no effect. The metal atom complexed with the phthalocyanine ring is significant for the photobiological activity. Among the compounds tested, those containing Al or Zn are most active.     

Synthesis of 3-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)pyrazolo[3,2-i]-purine derivatives and their cytotoxic activities

9-Amino-3-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)pyrazolo[3,2-i|purine ( 6 ) has been prepared from a fully protected 3-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)pyrazolo[3,2-i]purine ( 2 ) and the 9-bromo substituted derivative 3 by nitration, followed by reduction. Reaction of 9-bromo-3-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)pyrazolo[3,2-i)purine ( 1b ) with alkali gave the (pyrazol-3-yl)imidazole derivative, followed by diazocyclization with sodium nitrate to give 9-bromo-3-(β-D-ribofuran-osyl)imidazolo[4,5-d]pyrazolo[2,3-c][1,2,3]triazine ( 10 ) after deacetylation. Compounds 6 and 10 exhibited cytotoxic activity against leukemia cells.     

Innovative Linker Strategies for Tumor-Targeted Drug Conjugates

The covalent conjugation of potent cytotoxic agents to either macromolecular carriers or small molecules represents a well-known approach to increase the therapeutic index of these drugs, thus improving treatment efficacy and minimizing side effects. In general, cytotoxic activity is displayed only upon cleavage of a specific chemical bond (linker) that connects the drug to the carrier. The perfect balance between the linker stability and its selective cleavage represents the key for success in these therapeutic approaches and the chemical toolbox to reach this goal is continuously expanding. In this Review article, we highlight recent advances on the different modalities to promote the selective release of cytotoxic agents, either by exploiting specific hallmarks of the tumor microenvironment (e.g. pH, enzyme expression) or by the application of external triggers (e.g. light and bioorthogonal reactions).     

Surface functionalization of two-photon dye-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles with folic acid: cytotoxicity studies with HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells

Two-photon dye-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NPs) have been conjugated with folic acid (FA) in order to obtain efficient nanotools for bioimaging of cancer cells. The surface of the NPs was first functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The amine-covered NPs were subsequently reacted with an activated ester derivative of FA. Cytotoxicity studies performed with MCF7 and HeLa cancer cells demonstrate that these functionalized NPs are much less cytotoxic than the non-functionalized NPs against both cell lines. Unfortunately, the grafting of FA enables the formation of charge transfer complexes between the two-photon dye and FA which leads to quenching of the fluorescence of the NPs. Hence although these NPs cannot be used for biomaging purposes, they offer interesting potentialities if the two-photon dye used can be replaced by a two-photon fluorophore which do not interact with FA or if the interaction between the encapsulated dye and FA can be prevented by using a suitable spacer between the surface and the FA moiety.     

Synthesis of 4‐Heteroaryl–Quinazoline Derivatives as Potential Anti‐breast Cancer Agents

4‐Heteroaryl or heteroalkyl–quinazoline derivatives were prepared as dual epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2 (VEGFR‐2) inhibitors. The new compounds were tested for their dual enzyme inhibition as well as their cytotoxic activity on MCF7 cell line. The results indicated that almost all the compounds showed moderate dual inhibition of both enzymes. Compound 3 (methyl piperidine‐4‐carboxylate derivative) showed the highest inhibitory activity against both enzymes with IC₅₀ 97.6 and 64.0 µM against EGFR and VEGFR‐2 kinases, respectively. Most of the test compounds showed potent to moderate antitumor activity on MCF7 cell line. Five compounds ( 3 , 9c , 11 , 13 , and 15b ) showed potent cytotoxic activity with IC₅₀ values between 10 and 17 µM .     

Synthesis of New Benzoxazinone,Quinazolinone, and Pyrazoloquinazolinone Derivatives and Evaluation of Their Cytotoxic Activity Against Human Breast Cancer Cells

Synthesis of 2‐[3‐(3,4‐dichlorophenyl)‐3‐oxoprop‐1‐enyl]‐4H‐benzo[3,1]oxazin‐4‐one 2 as a precursor to synthesize quinazolinones 5 , 7 pyrazolylquinazolinones, 4 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 benzothiazine thione 10 , benzene derivative 3 pyrroloquinazolinone 6 , benzoimidazoquinazolinone 8 , and pyrazolotriazepinoquinazolinone 15 . The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were established by their elemental analyses and spectral data. Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited high antitumor and cytotoxic activity against human breast cancer cells.     

Synthesis,antibacterial and antitumor activity of methylpyridinium salts of pyridoxine functionalized 2-amino-6-sulfanylpyridine-3,5-dicarbonitriles

A library of 29 2-amino-6-sulfanylpyridine-3,5-dicarbonitriles functionalized with a pyridoxine moiety was synthesized using a three-component one-pot reaction of aldehyde derivative of pyridoxine, malononitrile, and thiophenol. The obtained bipyridine structures were converted into methylpyridinium salts. Several compounds demonstrated expressed antibacterial activity with MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) in the range of 0.5–4?µg/mL against the three studied Gram-positive strains and 8–64?µg/mL against the Gram-negative E. coli strain, which was comparable or better than the activity of the reference antimicrobial agents. At the same time, all the synthesized compounds were inactive against the Gram-negative P. aeruginosa. Several compounds also demonstrated high cytotoxic activity against the studied tumor cells, but without selectivity for the normal HSF (human foreskin fibroblast) cells. Despite the preliminary character of the performed biological studies, the obtained results make the obtained structural chemotype a promising starting point for the design of physiologically active compounds.     

Biomolecular Fishing for Calixarene Partners by a Chemoproteomic Approach

MS‐based chemical‐proteomics technology is introduced herein as a third general strategy to study the biomolecular recognition properties of given calixarene derivatives. In particular, we demonstrate that a simply designed calix[4]arene derivative 1 a bearing acetamido groups at the exo rim (pAC), when linked to a solid support, is able to fish out a specific protein (PDI protein) from a crude extract of HeLa cells. Western blot and surface plasmon resonance studies confirmed the direct interaction between PDI and the linker‐free pAC derivative 1 b with considerable affinity, and in vitro tests showed its inhibition of PDI chaperone activity. In accordance with the role of PDI in a variety of human cancers, biological tests showed that pAC 1 b was cytotoxic and cytostatic toward CAL‐27 and PC‐3 cancer cell lines in vitro. Docking studies showed that H bonds and hydrophobic interactions contribute to the stabilization of the PDI/pAC complex.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activities of novel dihydrooxazine and dihydrothiazine ring-fused tricyclic quinolonecarboxylic acids: 9-Fluoro-3-methylene-10-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)-7-oxo-2,3-dihydro-7h-pyrido[1,2,3-de][1,4]benzoxazine-6-carboxylic acid and its 1-thia congener

A new synthetic method was developed to obtain two novel tricyclic quinolonecarboxylic acids, 9-fluoro-3-methylene-10-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)-7-oxo-2,3-dihydro-7H-pyrido[1,2,3-de][1,4]benzoxazine-6-carboxylic acid ( 2 ) and its 1-thia congener 3 . The method involves the key intermediate of an oxetane derivative and its cleavage with acids. Evaluation of the antibacterial activities showed that 2 and 3 are excellent against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms in vitro, being comparable to or only slightly less effective than Ofloxacin. In experimental systemic infections in mice, compound 2 showed distinctly higher activity than Ofloxacin, especially against infection caused by Escherichia coli.     

In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of thiourea derivatives bearing Salix sp. constituent against HK-1 cell lines

Abstract

In searching for drugs from natural product scaffolds has gained interest among researchers. In this study, a series of twelve halogenated thiourea (ATX 1-12) via chemical modification of aspirin (a natural product derivative) and evaluated for cytotoxic activity against nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines, HK-1 via MTS-based colorimetric assay. The cytotoxicity studies demonstrated that halogens at meta position of ATX showed promising activity against HK-1 cells (IC₅₀ value ≤15?µM) in comparison to cisplatin, a positive cytotoxic drug (IC₅₀ value =8.9?±?1.9?µM). ATX 11, bearing iodine at meta position, showed robust cytotoxicity against HK-1 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 4.7?±?0.7?µM. Molecular docking interactions between ATX 11 and cyclooxygenase-2 demonstrated a robust binding affinity value of ?8.1?kcal/mol as compared to aspirin’s binding affinity value of ?6.4?kcal/mol. The findings represent a promising lead molecule from natural product with excellent cytotoxic activity against NPC cell lines.     

Synthesis and antitumor activity of some novel hydrazide, 1,2‐dihydropyridine,chromene, and benzochromene derivatives

2‐Cyano‐N′‐[1‐(substitutedphenyl)ethylidene]acetohydrazide 2a , 2b , 2c were obtained via reaction of acetophenone derivatives 1a , 1b , 1c with cyanoacetic acid hydrazide. The hydrazidehydrazone derivative 2a underwent a novel series of heterocyclization reactions via its reaction with aromatic aldehydes and/or arylidenemalononitriles to produce arylidene and dihydropyridine derivatives 3 5l , respectively. Structures of the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by elemental analyses, IR, ¹³C‐NMR, ¹H‐NMR and mass spectral data. All the newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in‐vitro antitumor activity against Ehrlich Ascities Carcinoma (EAC) cells. Some of them showed interesting cytotoxic activity compared with Doxorubicin (CAS 23214‐92‐8) as a reference drug. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).     

Photopolymerization reactions initiated by a visible light photoinitiating system: Cyanine dye/borate salt/1,3,5‐triazine

New three‐component photoinitiating systems consisting of a cyanine dye, borate salt, and a 1,3,5‐triazine derivative were investigated by measuring their photoinitiation activities and through fluorescence quenching experiments. Polymerization kinetic studies based on the microcalorimetric method revealed a significant increase in polymerization rate when the concentration of n‐butyltriphenylborate salt or the 1,3,5‐triazine derivative were increased. The photo‐induced electron transfer process between electron donor and electron acceptor was studied by means of fluorescence quenching and SrEt change of the fluorescence intensity. The experiments performed documented that an increase of the n‐butyltriphenylborate salt concentration dramatically increases the rate of dye fluorescence quenching, whereas the increasing of the 1,3,5‐triazine derivative concentration slows down the consumption of the dye. We conclude that the primary photochemical reaction involves an electron transfer from the n‐butyltriphenylborate anion to the excited singlet state of the dye, followed by the reaction of the 1,3,5‐triazine derivative with the resulting dye radical to regenerate the original dye. This reaction simultaneously produces a triazinyl radical anion derived from the 1,3,5‐triazine, which undergoes the carbon‐halogen bond cleavage yielding radicals active in initiation of a free radical polymerization chain. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3626–3636, 2007     

Cytotoxic Diterpenes from the Root Tuber of Curcuma wenyujin

Bioassay‐guided fractionation of ethanolic extract from the root tuber of Curcuma wenyujin afforded three new diterpenes, curcumrinols A–C ( 1 – 3 ), where 2 is the (14S)‐epimer of 1 . The structures of 1 – 3 were established on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, mainly NMR and MS. 1 – 3 were tested in vitro for their cytotoxic activity against the HL‐60 and K562 cancer cells. Among the compounds tested, 1 exhibited medium cytotoxicity against K‐562 and HL60 human cancer cells with IC₅₀ values of 11.2 and 3.2 μg/ml, respectively. However, 2 showed only weak activity against the above cancers cells, which suggested that C(14) may be an important position for cytotoxic activity.     

Antiproliferative,Cytotoxic, and Apoptotic Effects of New Benzimidazole Derivatives Bearing Hydrazone Moiety

In order to take the advantages of the anticancer properties of benzimidazoles and hydrazones, we synthesized new 4‐(5‐chloro‐1H‐benzimidazol‐2‐yl)‐benzoic acid benzylidene hydrazide derivatives ( 3a–3t ) and evaluated their anticancer activity against A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma) and MCF‐7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cells. The structures of the compounds ( 3a–3t ) were confirmed by IR, ¹H‐NMR, ¹³C‐NMR, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analyses. Antiproliferative activities of the compounds were evaluated using MTT assay, BrdU method, and flow cytometric analysis. In addition, with purpose of determining selectivity the cytotoxic activities of the final compounds were screened against healthy NIH3T3 cell line (mouse vembryonic fibroblast cells). Among the tested compounds 3e and 3f showed significant cytotoxic activity against A549 and MCF‐7 cancer cells with an IC₅₀ value of 0.0316 μM. Furthermore, compound 3p showed remarkable cytotoxic activity against MCF‐7 comparing with standard drug cisplatin. Annexin V‐FITC assay also suggested that this compounds induced cell death by apoptosis.     

Convenient synthesis of novel sulfonamide derivatives as promising anticancer agents

Novel sulfonamide derivatives have been synthesized from the readily accessible N-(4-acetylphenyl)benzenesulfonamide (1) . Condensation of 1 with phenylhydrazine in refluxing ethyl alcohol gave the corresponding phenylhydrazone 2 , which was then added to the Vilsmeier-Haack reagent (POCl₃/DMF) to give the 4-formylpyrazole derivative 3 . Fusion of 1 with thiourea in the presence of iodine at 130°C afforded the 2-aminothiazole derivative 4 . Refluxing 1 with an excess of N, N-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal furnished the enaminone 5 . The chemical reactivity of enaminone 5 toward some nitrogen and carbon nucleophiles has been studied to obtain polyfunctionalized heteroaromatic systems bearing a sulfonamide moiety. Besides, the enaminone 5 undergoes the Gewald reaction and reacts with ethyl cyanoacetate and elemental sulfur in the presence of morpholine to yield the 2-aminothiophene derivative 18 . Moreover, the utility of 5 for the synthesis of 4-(phenylsulfonamido)benzoic acid (19) was investigated. The synthesized sulfonamides were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activities against two human cell lines, MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma cells) and RPE-1 (normal retina pigmented epithelium cells). The results revealed that compounds 1-3 , 6-8 , 10 , 12b , 18 , 19 , and 21 have a potent cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 and less on RPE-1 cells compared to the positive control doxorubicin®.     

New neolignan glycoside and an unusual benzoyl malic acid derivative from Maytenus senegalensis leaves

Further investigation of the methanol leaf extract of Maytenus senegalensis led to the isolation of six compounds, including mayselignoside (1) and an unusual benzoyl malic acid derivative, benzoyl R-(+)-malic acid (2). Two known lignan derivatives (+)-lyoniresinol (3) and ( ? )-isolariciresinol (4), a known neolignan derivative dihydrodehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (5) and the triterpenoid, β-amyrin (6) were also isolated. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by a combination of 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectroscopy. All compounds were tested for cytotoxicity against mouse lymphoma cell line (L5178Y) and for antimicrobial activity against strains of bacteria and fungi. None of the compounds showed promising cytotoxic and/or antimicrobial activities.     

Synthesis,characterization, and antitumor activity of novel tumor-targeted platinum(IV) complexes

Four tumor-targeted platinum(IV) complexes with ammonia and cyclohexylamine as the carrier groups and biotin as the axial group were designed, synthesized, and characterized. In vitro evaluation of the antitumor activity of complexes C1–C4 against lung cancer cells (A549), liver cancer cells (SMMC-7721), breast cancer cells (MCF-7), and colon cancer cells (SW480) was carried out. Complex C3 had the best cellular activity. Compared with cisplatin, complex C3 showed good anticancer activity against A549 cell line,complex C3 (6.34±0.44) is 3 times more cytotoxic than cisplatin (19.40±0.71),and against MCF-7 cell line complex C3 (4.22±0.11) is 5.4 times more cytotoxic than cisplatin (22.96±0.58), and against SW480 cell line complex C3 (6.65±0.60) is 3.4 times more cytotoxic than cisplatin (23.15±0.22). (Table 1) Axial chloride increased the redox power of complex C3 to increase the intercellular accumulation and the introduction of mixed amine had the ability to overcome cisplatin resistance. Complex C3 works best on MCF-7, then SW480, A549, and SMMC-7721. Thus, complex C3 is targeted by the axial introduction of biotin.     

A Solid Support-Based Synthetic Strategy for the Site-Selective Functionalization of Peptides with Organometallic Half-Sandwich Moieties

The number of donor atoms available on peptides that can competitively coordinate to metal centers renders the site-selective generation of advanced metal-peptide conjugates in high purity a challenging venture. Herein, we present a transmetalation-based synthetic approach on solid support in which an imidazolium pro-ligand can be used to selectively anchor a range of transition metal half-sandwich complexes onto peptides in the presence of multiple coordinative motifs. Amenable to solid support, a range of N-terminus and/or lysine conjugated metal-peptide conjugates were obtained in high purity after cleavage from the resin. The metalated peptides were evaluated for their anticancer properties against human cancer cell lines. While no cytotoxic activity was observed, this platform has the potential to i) provide a pathway to site-selective peptide labelling, ii) be explored as a biorthogonal handle and/or iii) generate a new strategy for ligand design in transition metal catalysts.     

Tasumatrols P – T,Five New Taxoids from Taxus sumatrana

The phytochemical investigation of the more polar fractions from the leaves and twigs of Taxus sumatrana (Taxaceae) afforded five new taxane diterpene esters, tasumatrols P–T ( 1 – 5 ) possessing an 11(15→1),11(10→9)‐diabeotaxane skeleton. Compounds 1, 4 , and 5 contain an α‐hydroxy group at C(14), while 3 has no OH group at either C(13) or C(14). Compound 2 is a natural 4,5‐acetonide derivative, while 4 has an unusual spiro‐connected 2‐hydroxy‐2‐phenyl‐1,3‐dioxolane ring. Ten known taxoids, were also isolated in the course of the chromatographic fractionation. Five additional new O‐acetyl derivatives 3a, 4a, 4b, 5a , and 5b were prepared from the taxanes 3 – 5 . The structures of all new compounds were established on the basis of their spectroscopic analyses. Compound 1 showed mild cytotoxic activity against human Hela and Daoy tumor cells.