Methoxy-Substituted Tyramine Derivatives Synthesis,Computational Studies and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Kinetics

Targeting tyrosinase for melanogenesis disorders is an established strategy. Hydroxyl-substituted benzoic and cinnamic acid scaffolds were incorporated into new chemotypes that displayed in vitro inhibitory effects against mushroom and human tyrosinase for the purpose of identifying anti-melanogenic ingredients. The most active compound 2-((4-methoxyphenethyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl (E)-3-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl) acrylate (Ph9), inhibited mushroom tyrosinase with an IC₅₀ of 0.059 nM, while 2-((4-methoxyphenethyl)amino)-2-oxoethyl cinnamate (Ph6) had an IC₅₀ of 2.1 nM compared to the positive control, kojic acid IC₅₀ 16700 nM. Results of human tyrosinase inhibitory activity in A375 human melanoma cells showed that compound (Ph9) and Ph6 exhibited 94.6% and 92.2% inhibitory activity respectively while the positive control kojic acid showed 72.9% inhibition. Enzyme kinetics reflected a mixed type of inhibition for inhibitor Ph9 (K_i 0.093 nM) and non-competitive inhibition for Ph6 (K_i 2.3 nM) revealed from Lineweaver–Burk plots. In silico docking studies with mushroom tyrosinase (PDB ID:2Y9X) predicted possible binding modes in the catalytic site for these active compounds. Ph9 displayed no PAINS (pan-assay interference compounds) alerts. Our results showed that compound Ph9 is a potential candidate for further development of tyrosinase inhibitors.     

A Novel N-Tert-Butyl Derivatives of Pseudothiohydantoin as Potential Target in Anti-Cancer Therapy

Tumors are currently more and more common all over the world; hence, attempts are being made to explain the biochemical processes underlying their development. The search for new therapeutic pathways, with particular emphasis on enzymatic activity and its modulation regulating the level of glucocorticosteroids, may contribute to the development and implementation of new therapeutic options in the treatment process. Our research focuses on understanding the role of 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2 as factors involved in the differentiation and proliferation of neoplastic cells. In this work, we obtained the 9 novel N-tert-butyl substituted 2-aminothiazol-4(5H)-one (pseudothiohydantoin) derivatives, differing in the substituents at C-5 of the thiazole ring. The inhibitory activity and selectivity of the obtained derivatives in relation to two isoforms of 11β-HSD were evaluated. The highest inhibitory activity for 11β-HSD1 showed compound 3h, containing the cyclohexane substituent at the 5-position of the thiazole ring in the spiro system (82.5% at a conc. 10 µM). On the other hand, the derivative 3f with the phenyl substituent at C-5 showed the highest inhibition of 11β-HSD2 (53.57% at a conc. of 10 µM). A low selectivity in the inhibition of 11β-HSD2 was observed but, unlike 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid, these compounds were found to inhibit the activity of 11β-HSD2 to a greater extent than 11β-HSD1, which makes them attractive for further research on their anti-cancer activity.     

Design,Synthesis, and Evaluation of Dihydropyranopyrazole Derivatives as Novel PDE2 Inhibitors for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2) has been regarded as a novel target for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, we obtained (R)-LZ77 as a hit compound with moderate PDE2 inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 261.3 nM) using a high-throughput virtual screening method based on molecular dynamics. Then, we designed and synthesized 28 dihydropyranopyrazole derivatives as PDE2 inhibitors. Among them, compound (+)-11h was the most potent PDE2 inhibitor, with an IC₅₀ value of 41.5 nM. The molecular docking of PDE2-(+)-11h reveals that the 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl)oxyl side chain of the compound enters the H-pocket and forms strong hydrophobic interactions with L770/L809/F862, which improves inhibitory activity. The above results may provide insight for further structural optimization of highly potent PDE2 inhibitors and may lay the foundation for their use in the treatment of AD.     

Preparation and Antimicrobial Activity of Chitosan and Its Derivatives: A Concise Review

Despite the advantages presented by synthetic polymers such as strength and durability, the lack of biodegradability associated with the persistence in the environment for a long time turned the attention of researchers to natural polymers. Being biodegradable, biopolymers proved to be extremely beneficial to the environment. At present, they represent an important class of materials with applications in all economic sectors, but also in medicine. They find applications as absorbers, cosmetics, controlled drug delivery, tissue engineering, etc. Chitosan is one of the natural polymers which raised a strong interest for researchers due to some exceptional properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, nontoxicity, non-antigenicity, low-cost and numerous pharmacological properties as antimicrobial, antitumor, antioxidant, antidiabetic, immunoenhancing. In addition to this, the free amino and hydroxyl groups make it susceptible to a series of structural modulations, obtaining some derivatives with different biomedical applications. This review approaches the physico-chemical and pharmacological properties of chitosan and its derivatives, focusing on the antimicrobial potential including mechanism of action, factors that influence the antimicrobial activity and the activity against resistant strains, topics of great interest in the context of the concern raised by the available therapeutic options for infections, especially with resistant strains.     

Diorganotin(IV) Complexes with Monohydrate Disodium Salt of Iminodiacetic Acid: Synthesis,Characterization, Crystal Structure and Biological Activities

Diorganotin(IV) derivatives have been synthesized by the reaction of R₂SnL₂ (R=n‐Bu 1 , Ph 2 ) with monohydrate disodium salt of iminodiacetic acid ( Na₂L ) in 1 : 1 M/L ratio under reflux conditions. The compounds have been characterized by FT‐IR, NMR (¹H and ¹³C) spectoscopy, electron ionization mass spectrometry (EIMS), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and single crystal XRD. FTIR data indicates a mono‐dentate binding mode of the carboxylic acid group as well as participation of the amino nitrogen and aqua oxygen in coordination with organotin(IV) moieties. NMR data demonstrates a tetra‐coordinated environment around tin(IV) in solution. Mass spectrometric and thermogravimetric analyses verify the close similarities between the molecular structures of both complexes. The thermal stability of diphenyltin(IV) derivative ( 2 ) was found slightly higher than that of the free ligand ( Na₂L ). Single crystal X‐ray analysis of the complex 1 have shown a hexa‐coordinated geometry around Sn(IV) with trans configuration. There are evidences for the existence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding in the structure of the complexes. The products displayed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities in contrast to the biologically inactive ligand precursor. However, the hemolytic cytoxicity of the complexes was comparatively high than the free ligand.     

Three New Phenyl Ether Derivatives from Aspergillus carneus HQ889708

Three new phenyl ether derivatives, 3‐hydroxy‐5‐(3‐hydroxy‐5‐methylphenoxy)benzoic acid ( 1 ), 3,4‐dihydroxy‐5‐(3‐hydroxy‐5‐methylphenoxy)benzoic acid ( 2 ), 3‐[3‐hydroxy‐5‐(hydroxymethyl)phenoxy]‐5‐methylphenol ( 3 ), and three known compounds 4 – 6 were obtained from the fermentation broth of Aspergillus carneus HQ889708, which was isolated from sea water from South China Sea. The structures of compounds 1 – 3 were established on the basis of spectroscopic methods including ESI‐MS and NMR. Compounds 4 – 6 were reported before as synthesized products, herein, they are reported from nature for the first time.     

1,3‐Benzothiazoles as Antimicrobial Agents

Starting from 2‐amino‐1,3‐mercaptobenzothiazoles recently reported ( 1a , 1b , 1c , 1d , 1e , 1f , 1g , 1h ), a series of the corresponding 2‐mercapto‐1,3‐benzothiazole isosters ( 2a , 2b , 2c , 2d , 2e , 2f , 2g , 2h ) were screened for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities. Results underline that the presence of the mercapto moiety at the 2‐position of the heterocyclic nucleus is crucial for activity against bacteria. The biological screening against Candida spp. identified commercial 2f as the most promising compound as antifungal against Candida albicans and tropicalis. Molecular modeling studies supported these results. Then, to enlarge structure‐activity relationship (SAR) studies on series 1 , newly synthesized compounds ( 1k , 1l , 1m , 1n , 1o , 1p ) were reported. All the compounds belonging to this series and bearing a bulky substituent at the 6‐position of the aryl moiety showed high antifungal activity.     

The PyPES library of high quality semi‐global potential energy surfaces

In this article, we present a Python‐based library of high quality semi‐global potential energy surfaces for 50 polyatomic molecules with up to six atoms. We anticipate that these surfaces will find widespread application in the testing of new potential energy surface construction algorithms and nuclear ro‐vibrational structure theories. To this end, we provide the ability to generate the energy derivatives required for Taylor series expansions to sixth order about any point on the potential energy surface in a range of common coordinate systems, including curvilinear internal, Cartesian, and normal mode coordinates. The PyPES package, along with FORTRAN, C, MATLAB and Mathematica wrappers, is available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/pypes-lib . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Charge Transfer Properties of Organic Semiconductor Molecules of Perylene Derivatives

The charge transfer rates of perylene and its four derivatives were studied at the level of B3LYP/6-31G** by density functional theory. The results showed that the perylene and its four derivatives belonged to the semiconductor molecules, which released energy when electron was injected. Therefore, they were suitable to be used as the electron injection material. The introduction of OH group can improve the electron transfer rate significantly. The formations of intramolecular hydrogen bonds were unfavorable to the hole transfer, but conducive to the electron transfer. The perylene derivatives, 2,5-3,4,5-(trifluorophenyl)ethynyl-8,11-3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl ethynyl, designed in this article had the hole transfer rate of 1.57 cm2/V·s-1. Therefore, this kind of material will be potential hole transfer material with high transfer efficiency.     

Total Synthesis of cis‐Clavicipitic Acid from Asparagine via Ir‐Catalyzed CH bond Activation as a Key Step

4‐Substituted tryptophan derivatives and the total synthesis of cis‐clavicipitic acid were achieved in reactions in which Ir‐catalyzed C?H bond activation was a key step. The starting material for these reactions is asparagine, which is a cheap natural amino acid. The reductive amination step from the 4‐substituted tryptophan derivative gave cis‐clavicipitic acid with perfect diastereoselectivity.