Comparative conformational analysis of peptide T analogs

A series of peptide T analogs were investigated within the molecular mechanics framework. In order to determine the role of the aminoacid residues in spatial formation of peptide T the conformational peculiarities of the glycine-substituted analogs were investigated. The conformational profiles of some biologically tested analogs of this peptide were determined independently. The received data permit to assess the active form of this peptide. It is characterized by β-turn at the C-terminal physiologically active pentapeptide fragment of peptide molecule. The received results are important for the investigation of the structure-activity relationship and may be used at design of a rigid-molecule drug against HIV.     

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography separations of dynorphin peptide analogs

Prodynorphin is a precursor that has multiple cleavage sites to release various dynorphin opioid peptides. The dynorphin analogs used in this study have 18 amino acid residues. A series of dynorphin-like peptides, differing by a single residue (alanine substitution) were assembled by Fmoc solid-phase procedures and purified by preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Separation of the Ala-scan dynorphin analogs was investigated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) employing anionic, cationic and zwitterionic surfactants. The role of electrostatic and hydrophobic forces in analyte-surfactant interactions is discussed with respect to the observed elution patterns. Separation of all dynorphin analogs by MEKC using a zwitterionic surfactant shows this technique to be powerful for separating closely related peptide species. It also demonstrates the potential for using MEKC for the prescreening of peptide libraries to determine their biological activity toward specific receptors. Results from the separation of dynorphin analogs by free solution and ion-pairing capillary electrophoresis are also presented.     

Design and synthesis of further simplified pyripyropene A based ACAT2 selective inhibitors

Acyl-coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferases (ACATs) play the significant role in the formation of cholesterol esters. One form of this enzyme is ACAT2, which not only regulates the balance of cholesterol metabolism in cells but also participates in the “escape” mechanism of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The natural product pyripyropene A (PPPA) and its analogs are the only chemical ACAT2-specific inhibitors. To develop simpler analogs and endeavor to remove a portion of multichiral centers and enrich a variety of analogs, new PPPA analogs are creatively designed and synthesized based on previous work. Among these new analogs, 7a and 9f show better activity and selective inhibition of ACAT2 compared with PPPA. These results will provide a new future for potential therapeutic use in atherosclerosis and HCC.     

Microwave-assisted three component one-pot synthesis of pyrimido-oxazepines

A synthetic approach toward pyrimido-oxazepine analogs was developed through the use of microwave heating. Certain analogs can be made in one step, which make this a valuable tool in the investigation of this therapeutically relevant scaffold.     

蜂毒肽C末端片段的反序肽的抗菌活性和溶血活性

设计并合成了具有不同碱性氨基酸残基数和不同疏水性片段链长的基于Mel(12~26)的系列反序肽类似物.结果表明,反序肽的正电荷和疏水性对于抑菌活性都很重要,N端至少保留3个碱性氨基酸(正电荷>4)和C端的疏水性片段的链长至少为8个氨基酸残基的类似物具有较高的抑菌活性,具有较大的抑菌活性的最小反序肽类似物为具有11个氨基酸残基的RetroMel(13~23).这些反序肽的溶血活性都很小.     

Chemical synthesis and biological properties of pyridine epothilones

BACKGROUND: Numerous analogs of the antitumor agents epothilones A and B have been synthesized in search of better pharmacological profiles. Insights into the structure-activity relationships within the epothilone family are still needed and more potent and selective analogs of these compounds are in demand, both as biological tools and as chemotherapeutic agents, especially against drug-resistant tumors. RESULTS: A series of pyridine epothilone B analogs were designed, synthesized and screened. The synthesized compounds exhibited varying degrees of tubulin polymerization and cytotoxicity properties against a number of human cancer cell lines depending on the location of the nitrogen atom and the methyl substituent within the pyridine nucleus. CONCLUSIONS: The biological screening results in this study established the importance of the nitrogen atom at the ortho position as well as the beneficial effect of a methyl substituent at the 4- or 5-position of the pyridine ring. Two pyridine epothilone B analogs (i.e. compounds 3 and 4) possessing higher potencies against drug-resistant tumor cells than epothilone B, the most powerful of the naturally occurring epothilones, were identified.     

放线菌素D新类似物的设计、合成与体外抗肿瘤活性

为了提高临床抗肿瘤药物放线菌素D(AMD)的抗肿瘤效果和治疗指数,在AMD构效关系研究基础上,设计全合成了包括9个新类似物在内的两类共13个AMD类似物.保持环肽2位D-Val不变,环肽5位分别用Sar,D-Me-Leu和Me-Ile等氨基酸替换以改变侧链基团长度,合成了类似物8b～8e;以环肽2位D-Phe替换的低毒性类似物[D-Phe2]2AMD为基础,在环肽5位进行氨基酸替换,改变侧链基团长度和空间指向,并引入芳香族氨基酸等,合成了类似物8f～8m.优化了类似物的合成中的反应条件,提高了五肽环化产率,避免了消旋产物的生成.所有类似物经[α]D,1HNMR和高分辨质谱表征后,采用MTT法进行了体外抗肿瘤活性筛选,结果表明,保留环肽2位D-Val及延长5位氨基酸侧链基团能显著提高类似物的抗肿瘤活性,而2位D-Phe替换后类似物的抗肿瘤活性普遍下降.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of Monocarbonyl Analogs of Curcumin

Two monocarbonyl analogs of curcumin containing bis(2,6-difluorobenzyl) were synthesized,and their molecular structures were characterized by 1H NMR,ESI-MS,and X-ray crystallography.In this paper,the crystal structures of these two analogs(A75 and C75) are described and compared with their bis(2-fluorobenzyl) analogues as well as with the available data of curcumin.The cyclopentane rings in A75 have an envelope conformation,while the cyclohexane ring in C75 has a chair conformation.The compounds are symmetrical and the central structure of A75 and C75 connects with two benzylidene rings through E,E-oriented double bonding.     

‘Click’ synthesis of triazole-based spirostan saponin analogs

Novel analogs of spirostan saponins in which the glycosidic bond has been replaced by a triazole linkage are described. For this, a direct oligosaccharide-steroid conjugation approach based on the Cu^I-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition was implemented, leading to diverse combinations of saponin analogs with variations in the trisaccharide moiety, the artificial linkage, and the steroid-skeleton functionalization. This ‘click’ process proved great efficiency for the ligation of two bulky building blocks (e.g., chacotriose derivatives and spirostanes bearing axial azides), which enabled the rapid creation of a small library of triazole-based analogs for cytotoxicity evaluation. A molecular modeling study was performed to understand the conformational and electronic differences between a natural saponin and its triazole-based analogs.     

Benzo[b]thiophene derivatives. XXIII. Derivatives of 5,6-dihydroxy-3-benzo[b] thienylacetic acid

A series of 5,6-disubstituted benzo[b]thiophenes have been synthesized for biological evaluation. These include analogs of tryptamine, melatonin and harmaline types, having hydroxy, methoxy, methoxymethyloxy, or isopropylidenedioxy groups at both the 5- and 6- positions. In order to synthesize these, the appropriate mercaptoguaiacols were prepared, and condensed with chloroacetoacetic esters to the 4-arylthioacetoacetic esters. Cyclization of these ketones was best accomplished when the free phenolic groups were masked by methoxymethyl groups. The benzo[b] thienylacetic esters were then converted to corresponding amides, reduced to tryptamine analogs, acetylated to melatonin analogs, and cyclized to harmaline analogs. N-Acetyltryptamine and 1-methylmelatonin were also synthesized for comparison. Preliminary bioassay results on the melatonin analogs, which showed activity, are reported.     

Fluorinated analogs of malachite green: synthesis and toxicity

A series of fluorinated analogs of malachite green (MG) have been synthesized and their toxicity to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a human ovarian epithelial cell line examined. The toxicity profiles were found to be different for these two species. Two analogs, one with 2,4-difluoro substitution and the other with 2-fluoro substitution seem to be the most promising analogs because they showed the lowest toxicity to the human cells.     

Synthesis,Profiling, and Bioactive Conformation of trans‐Cyclopropyl Epothilones

A series of new 3‐deoxy‐C(12),C(13)‐trans‐cyclopropyl‐epothilones have been prepared, bearing benzothiazole, quinoline, thiazol‐5‐ylvinyl, or isoxazol‐3‐ylvinyl side chains. For analogs with fused aromatic side chains, macrocyclic ring‐closure was based on ring‐closing olefin metathesis (RCM) of a precursor incorporating the fully elaborated heavy atom framework of the target structure (including the side chain moiety), while side chain attachment for the thiazole and isoxazole‐containing 16‐desmethyl analogs was performed only after establishment of the macrolactone core. Two approaches were elaborated for a macrocyclic aldehyde as the common precursor for the latter analogs that involved ring‐closure either by RCM or by macrolactonization. Benzothiazole‐ and quinoline‐based analogs were found to be highly potent antiproliferative agents; the two analogs with a thiazol‐5‐ylvinyl or an isoxazol‐3‐ylvinyl side chain likewise showed good antiproliferative activity but were significantly less potent than the parent epothilone A. Surprisingly, the desaturation of the C(10)?C(11) bond in these analogs was associated with a virtually complete loss in antiproliferative activity, which likely reflects a requirement for a ca. 60 ° C(10)?C(11) torsion angle in the tubulin‐bound conformation of 12,13‐trans‐epothilones.     

Development and validation of a capillary electrophoresis method for the characterization of protegrin IB-367.

A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed to characterize protegrin IB-367, an antimicrobial peptide being developed for the treatment of oral mucositis and for other topical applications. The electrophoretic purity and levels of potential impurities/degradation products of IB-367 drug substance are determined by CE using area normalization. Electrophoresis parameters were optimized to allow optimal resolution, reproducibility and minimal analysis time. The separation and resolution between this polycationic peptide and truncated analogs determined by the CE method was much greater than those by the HPLC methods. In addition, the CE methods separates the potential impurities/degradation products from each other while the HPLC methods failed to resolve them. The CE method was validated in the aspects of accuracy, precision, linearity, range, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, specificity, system suitability and robustness. An internal standard was used for the quantitation purpose. The selection criteria of the internal standard as well as the method validation results are presented. The truncated peptide analogs were used to demonstrate the specificity of the method. These analogs were also used to evaluate the limit of quantitation of potential impurities. The relative response factors of these analogs were assessed to determine area normalization feasibility. System suitability tests were established.     

Rational design of hyper-glycosylated human luteinizing hormone analogs (a bioinformatics approach)

Glycoengineering is a recently used approach to extend serum half-life of valuable protein therapeutics. One aspect of glycoengineering is to introduce new N-glycosylation site (Asn-X-Thr/Ser, where X ≠ Pro) into desirable positions in the peptide backbone, resulting in the generation of hyper-glycosylated protein. In this study, human luteinizing hormone (LH) was considered for identification of the suitable positions for the addition of new N-linked glycosylation sites. A rational in silico approach was applied for prediction of structural and functional alterations caused by changes in amino acid sequence. As the first step, we explored the amino acid sequence of LH to find out desirable positions for introducing Asn or/and Thr to create new N-glycosylation sites. This exploration led to the identification of 38 potential N-glycan sites, and then the four acceptable ones were selected for further analysis. Three-dimensional (3D) structures of the selected analogs were generated and examined by the model evaluation methods. Finally, two analogs with one additional glycosylation site were suggested as the qualified analogs for hyper-glycosylation of the LH, which can be considered for further experimental investigations. Our computational strategy can reduce laborious and time-consuming experimental analyses of the analogs.     

Synthesis,biological activity,and conformational analysis of CD-ring modified trans-decalin 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D analogs

A novel series of analogs of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the hormonally active metabolite of vitamin D3, characterised by the presence of a trans-fused decalin CD-ring system, possesses surprising biological activities in combination with specific structural modifications in the flexible parts of the molecule, when compared with the natural hydrindane derivatives. (1) A large difference in biological activity is observed between the 20-epimeric trans-decalin analogs that follows a pattern opposite to what is usually observed for the natural ring size. (2) Several trans-decalin analogs that are modified in the seco-B-ring region, including previtamin derivatives, possess a pronounced vitamin D-like activity, whereas the corresponding hydrindane derivatives are inactive. The molecular origin of this behavior is still under study.     

Synthesis and properties of analogs of pyridoxal

A method for the synthesis of analogs of pyridoxal-2-norpyridoxal, 6-methyl-2, 4-pyridoxal, and 6-methylpyridoxal—has been worked out. The reaction of 5-ethoxyoxazoles with maleic diesters gave diesters of substituted 3-hydroxycinchomeric acids, which were converted by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride into analogs of pyridoxine. The latter were oxidized with magnesium dioxide to the corresponding analogs of pyridoxal. The oximes of the aldehydes and their Schiff's bases with p-phenetidine have been obtained. Analogs of pyridoxamine have been obtained by the hydrogenation of the oximes. The UV absorption spectra of the compounds and the ratios of the ionic forms in aqueous solutions have been studied.     

Synthesis and properties of analogs of pyridoxal

A method for the synthesis of analogs of pyridoxal-2-norpyridoxal, 6-methyl-2, 4-pyridoxal, and 6-methylpyridoxal—has been worked out. The reaction of 5-ethoxyoxazoles with maleic diesters gave diesters of substituted 3-hydroxycinchomeric acids, which were converted by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride into analogs of pyridoxine. The latter were oxidized with magnesium dioxide to the corresponding analogs of pyridoxal. The oximes of the aldehydes and their Schiff's bases with p-phenetidine have been obtained. Analogs of pyridoxamine have been obtained by the hydrogenation of the oximes. The UV absorption spectra of the compounds and the ratios of the ionic forms in aqueous solutions have been studied.     

Design,synthesis and anti-proliferative effects in tumor cells of new combretastatin A-4 analogs

A total of 11 novel combretastatin A-4(CA-4) analogs were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for the anti-proliferative effects in tumor cells. The compounds represent four structural classes:(i)hydrogenated derivatives,(ii) ethoxyl derivatives,(iii) amino derivatives and(iv) pro-drugs. Biological evaluations demonstrate that multiple structural features control the biological potency. Three of the compounds, sit-1, sit-2 and sit-3, have potent anti-proliferative activity against multiple cancer cell lines. Their pro-drugs were synthesized to increase water solubility. Structure–activity relationship study and Surflex-Docking were studied in this paper. These results will be useful for the design of new CA-4 analogs that are structurally related to the SAR study.