A metal-free C–C/C–O bond formation for the synthesis of 2-amino-5-oxo-4-aryl-4H,5H-pyrano[3,2-c]chromene-3-carboxamide catalyzed by polystyrene-supported p-toluenesulfonic acid (PS-PTSA)

An efficient and eco-friendly procedure for the synthesis of 2-amino-5-oxo-4-aryl-4H,5H-pyrano[3,2-c]chromene-3-carboxamide has been developed through a one-pot three-component condensation of 4-hydroxycoumarin with aldehydes and cyanoacetamide, in the presence of catalytic amount of polystyrene-supported p-toluenesulfonic acid (PS-PTSA) as a highly active and reusable heterogeneous acid catalyst in EtOH at 80?°C conditions. This new procedure offers several advantages such as shorter reaction times, excellent yields, a wide range of functional group tolerance, easy experimental work-up procedure, operationally simple under metal-free reaction conditions and C-C/C-O bond formation. The catalyst can be recovered and reused for at least four runs without any significant impact on the product yields.     

A miniaturized glucocorticoid receptor translocation assay using enzymatic fragment complementation evaluated with qHTS

Nuclear translocation is an important step in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling and assays that measure this process allow the identification of nuclear receptor ligands independent of subsequent functional effects. To facilitate the identification of GR-translocation agonists, an enzyme fragment complementation (EFC) cell-based assay was scaled to a 1536-well plate format to evaluate 9,920 compounds using a quantitative high throughput screening (qHTS) strategy where compounds are assayed at multiple concentrations. In contrast to conventional assays of nuclear translocation the qHTS assay described here was enabled on a standard luminescence microplate reader precluding the requirement for imaging methods. The assay uses beta-galactosidase alpha complementation to indirectly detect GR-translocation in CHO-K1 cells. 1536-well assay miniaturization included the elimination of a media aspiration step, and the optimized assay displayed a Z' of 0.55. qHTS yielded EC(50) values for all 9,920 compounds and allowed us to retrospectively examine the dataset as a single concentration-based screen to estimate the number of false positives and negatives at typical activity thresholds. For example, at a 9 microM screening concentration, the assay showed an accuracy that is comparable to typical cell-based assays as judged by the occurrence of false positives that we determined to be 1.3% or 0.3%, for a 3sigma or 6sigma threshold, respectively. This corresponds to a confirmation rate of approximately 30% or approximately 50%, respectively. The assay was consistent with glucocorticoid pharmacology as scaffolds with close similarity to dexamethasone were identified as active, while, for example, steroids that act as ligands to other nuclear receptors such as the estrogen receptor were found to be inactive.     

A high throughput fluorescence polarization assay for inhibitors of the GoLoco motif/G-alpha interaction

The GoLoco motif is a short Galpha-binding polypeptide sequence. It is often found in proteins that regulate cell-surface receptor signaling, such as RGS12, as well as in proteins that regulate mitotic spindle orientation and force generation during cell division, such as GPSM2/LGN. Here, we describe a high throughput fluorescence polarization (FP) assay using fluorophore-labeled GoLoco motif peptides for identifying inhibitors of the GoLoco motif interaction with the G-protein alpha subunit Galpha (i1). The assay exhibits considerable stability over time and is tolerant to DMSO up to 5%. The Z'-factors for robustness of the GPSM2 and RGS12 GoLoco motif assays in a 96-well plate format were determined to be 0.81 and 0.84, respectively; the latter assay was run in a 384-well plate format and produced a Z'-factor of 0.80. To determine the screening factor window (Z-factor) of the RGS12 GoLoco motif screen using a small molecule library, the NCI Diversity Set was screened. The Z-factor was determined to be 0.66, suggesting that this FP assay would perform well when developed for 1,536-well format and scaled up to larger libraries. We then miniaturized to a 4 microL final volume a pair of FP assays utilizing fluorescein- (green) and rhodamine- (red) labeled RGS12 GoLoco motif peptides. In a fully-automated run, the Sigma-Aldrich LOPAC(1280) collection was screened three times with every library compound being tested over a range of concentrations following the quantitative high throughput screening (qHTS) paradigm; excellent assay performance was noted with average Z-factors of 0.84 and 0.66 for the green- and red-label assays, respectively.     

Spectrophotometric simultaneous determination of rabeprazole sodium and itopride hydrochloride in capsule dosage form

A new simple, economical, rapid, precise and accurate method for simultaneous determination of rabeprazole sodium and itopride hydrochloride in capsule dosage form has been developed. The method is based on ratio spectra derivative spectrophotometry. The amplitudes in the first derivative of the corresponding ratio spectra at 231nm (minima) and 260nm were selected to determine rabeprazole sodium and itopride hydrochloride, respectively. The method was validated with respect to linearity, precision and accuracy.     

Synthesis and conformational studies of peptides from new C-linked carbo-beta-amino acids (beta-Caas) with anomeric methylamino- and difluorophenyl moieties

New C-linked carbo-beta-amino acids (beta-Caas), Cbz-(S)-beta-Caa-(NHBoc)-OMe (1) and Cbz-(R)-beta-Caa-(NHBoc)-OMe (2), with an additional amine group (methylamino group of NHBoc) at the C-1 position of the lyxofuranoside side chain and Boc-(S)-beta-Caa-(diFP)-OMe (3) and Boc-(R)-beta-Caa-(diFP)-OMe (4), with a C-difluorophenyl (diFP) moiety at the anomeric position of the lyxofuranoside side chain were prepared from D-mannose. Beta-peptides [tetra- and hexapeptides] were synthesized from these beta-Caas, 'epimeric' [at the amine stereocentre (C(beta))], using the concept of 'alternating chirality' to carry out their conformational studies [NMR (CDCl(3)), CD and MD]. In the monomer design, it was envisaged that the presence of an additional amine group in 1 or 2 would help in solubilizing the peptides in water, while, the C-difluorophenyl (diFP) moiety of 3 and 4 is expected to enhance the biological activity. The peptides having 1 and 2, though could not retain their 12-10-mixed helices in water, have shown moderate activity against gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains. The peptides prepared from 3 and 4, much against our expectations, did not display any biological activity.     

Phosphomolybdic acid catalyzed facile one‐pot synthesis of 2,4,5‐triaryl‐1H‐imidazoles from benzil and aromatic aldehydes

A facile one‐pot synthesis of 2,4,5‐triaryl‐1H‐imidazoles with better yields and shorter reaction time from the condensation of benzil, ammonium acetate and aromatic aldehydes using the catalyst phosphomolybdic acid is described     

Addressing association entropy by reconstructing guanidinium anchor groups for anion binding: design, synthesis, and host-guest binding studies in polar and protic solutions

The bicyclic hexahydropyrimidino[1,2a]pyrimidine cationic scaffold has a well-known capacity to bind a variety of oxoanions (phosphates, carboxylates, squarates, phosphinates). Based on this feature, the parent host was supplemented with sec-carboxamido substituents to generate compounds 1-3 in an effort to improve the anion-binding affinity and selectivity and to learn about the role and magnitude of entropic factors. Bicyclic guanidinium compounds were prepared by a convergent strategy via the corresponding tetraester 22 followed by catalytic amidation. Host-guest binding studies with isothermal titration calorimetry in acetonitrile probed the behavior of artificial hosts 1-3 in comparison with the tetraallylguanidinium compound 4 on binding p-nitrobenzoate, dihydrogenphosphate, and 2,2'-bisphenolcyclophosphate guests that showed enhanced affinities in the 10(5)-10(6) M(-1) range. Contrary to expectation, better binding emerges from more positive association entropies rather than from stronger enthalpic interactions (hydrogen bonding). In an NMR spectroscopy titration in DMSO, o-phthalate was sufficiently basic to abstract a proton from the guanidinium function, as confirmed by an X-ray crystal structure of the product. The novel carboxamide-appended anchor groups also bind carboxylates and phosphates, but not hydrogen sulfate in methanol with affinities in excess of 10(4) M(-1). The energetic signature of the complexation in methanol is inverted with respect to acetonitrile solvent and shows a pattern of general ion pairing with strong positive entropies overcompensating endothermic binding enthalpies. This study provides an example of the fact that bona fide decoration of a parent guanidinium anchor function with an additional binding functionality may provide the desired enhancement of the host-guest affinity, yet for a different reason than that implemented by design as guided by standard molecular modeling.     

Simultaneous RP-LC Determination of Artesunate and Amodiaquine in Pharmaceutical Preparations

A simple, fast and precise reversed phase liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of artesunate (AS) and amodiaquine (AD) in combined pharmaceutical dosage form. Chromatographic separation of the two drugs was performed on a BDS Hypersil C18, 100 mm × 4.6 mm, 3 μm particle size column as stationary phase with a mobile phase comprising of phosphate buffer (pH 3.0 with orthophosphoric acid) and acetonitrile in the proportion of 50:40 (v/v), at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min^?1 and UV detection at wavelength 210 nm for AS and 300 nm for AD using photo diode array detection. The proposed method was validated for specificity, accuracy, linearity, range, precision and was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of AS and AD in the combined fixed dosage form without any excipient’s interference.     

The Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Aminoglycoside Antibiotics and their Applications

Aminoglycosides, a class of antibiotics that includes gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, streptomycin, tobramycin and apramycin, are derived from various streptomyces species. Despite the significant increase in the antibacterial resistant pathogens, aminoglycosides remain an important class of antimicrobial drugs due to their unique chemical structure which offers a broad spectrum of activity. The modification of antibiotics and their subsequent use in supramolecular chemistry is rarely reported. Given the importance of aminoglycosides, here we give a brief overview on the modification of 4,5- and 4,6-disubstituted deoxystreptamine classes of aminoglycosides through supramolecular chemistry and their potential for real world applications. We also make the case that the work in this area is gaining momentum, and there are significant opportunities to meet the challenges of modern antibiotics through the modification of aminoglycosides by harnessing the advantages of supramolecular chemistry.     

Coumarin-Rhodamine Hybrids—Novel Probes for the Optical Measurement of Viscosity and Polarity

A comprehensive systematic study of absorption and fluorescence properties in solvents of varying viscosity and polarity of three novel and red-emitting coumarin-rhodamine hybrid derivatives with differences in the rigidity of their substituents is presented. This includes ethanol-polyethylene glycol, toluene-polyethylene glycol, and toluene-paraffin mixtures. Moreover, protonation-induced effects on the spectroscopic properties are studied. A viscosity-induced emission enhancement was observed for all coumarin-rhodamine hybrid derivatives. MCR2 bearing a julolidine donor showed the expected low sensitivity to viscosity whereas MCR3 with its freely rotatable diphenylamino substituent revealed a particularly pronounced sensitivity to this parameter. Moreover, MCR2 shows an enhancement in emission in the open, i.e., protonated form in conjunction with a largely Stokes shift fluorescence in the deep red spectral region. This enables the application of these dyes as viscosity sensors and as far red emitting pH-sensitive probes.