Prebiotic chemistry: A fuzzy field

If prebiotic chemistry is defined as the study of the chemical steps, which lead to the first organisms, a clear-cut definition of “living organism” is needed. Unfortunately, no unambiguous and universally accepted definition exists for the concept “living”. Under these conditions, fuzzy logic is probably the methodological tool that can best be used to handle questions pertaining to “the origin of life”. A conventional scale must, however, be defined which interestingly enough, depends necessarily on our present-day scientific knowledge.     

Lead-oriented synthesis: a new opportunity for synthetic chemistry

The pharmaceutical industry remains solely reliant on synthetic chemistry methodology to prepare compounds for small-molecule drug discovery programmes. The importance of the physicochemical properties of these molecules in determining their success in drug development is now well understood but we present here data suggesting that much synthetic methodology is unintentionally predisposed to producing molecules with poorer drug-like properties. This bias may have ramifications to the early hit- and lead-finding phases of the drug discovery process when larger numbers of compounds from array techniques are prepared. To address this issue we describe for the first time the concept of lead-oriented synthesis and the opportunity for its adoption to increase the range and quality of molecules used to develop new medicines.     

Hypervalent iodine chemistry in synthesis: scope and new directions

The impressive development of hypervalent iodine chemistry in recent years is reflected by the number of publications in this area. Although the synthesis of the first hypervalent iodine compound dates back more than 100 years, the investigation of the reactivities of these compounds and their efficient use as metal-free reagents in organic synthesis is still ongoing. This contribution summarizes recent achievements and highlights key findings and developments that will influence future research and lead to novel applications of hypervalent iodine reagents in synthesis.     

充满生机和科学机遇的磷化学研究所

简要地综述了第十五届国际磷化学会议的报告内容，介绍了目前磷化学的主要 研究领域，包括不对称合成、配合化学，生物碱化学，药物化学，农业化学等相关 领域的研究动态及新进展。     

Immunologically driven antibodies chemical engineering: design and synthesis of a hapten aimed at nerve agent hydrolysis

In this letter, we describe the design and the synthesis of an organophosphorus hapten aimed at a mixed biotechnological-chemical strategy for the mild decontamination of exceedingly toxic nerve agent VX. Hapten will be used to raise and select monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) able to bind both the nerve agent, and an oxime, derived from pyridinaldoxime, able to specifically hydrolyze its P-S bond. In order to significantly increase the hydrolysis reaction rate, the controlled respective positioning of the oxime and of the substrate will be achieved through the immunization, and in a second step, the oxime will be bound to the mAb in a reactive position towards the reactive thiophosphate functionality of the substrate.     

Systems biology and systems chemistry: new directions for drug discovery

Improvements in drug design have historically been centered around structure-based optimization of molecule specificity for a targeted protein, in an effort to reduce unintentional binding to other proteins and off-target effects. Although the "one-to-one" drug design strategy has been successful in impairing function of targets associated with a number of diseases, recent reports of drug promiscuity, which are a potential source of adverse reactions in patients, make a case to refine the drug design strategy such that it includes an awareness of multiple interactions from both ligand and protein perspectives. Polypharmacology and chemical biology studies are amassing interaction data at rapid rates, and the integration of such data into an interpretable model requires zooming our perspective out from the single ligand-target level to the larger network-wide level. We review some of the recent developments in systems-level research for drug design and discovery, and discuss the directions that some drug design efforts are heading toward.     

Carbohydrate Recognition through Noncovalent Interactions: A Challenge for Biomimetic and Supramolecular Chemistry

Carbohydrates are not always as “sticky” as one might expect . Even in organic solvents they are difficult targets for the supramolecular chemist, due to their complex, three-dimensional structures. In their natural environment (water) they are especially elusive, presenting challenges which will occupy synthetic and theoretical chemists for some time to come. The complex of an octaamide supramolecular receptor with β-D -glucopyranose, which binds through apolar and polar contacts, is shown.     

Green chemistry: Analytical and chromatography

Nowadays, the environment protection and the personal health and safety are given more consideration in the field of chemistry, thus resulting in an increased number of published researches about how to work according to green instructions, to follow up the recommendations of environmental agencies and to obtain better clean handling of chemistry. In this review, green chemistry definition, importance, principles, and some recent applications in the field of green chemistry were discussed. In addition, the review summarizes the evolution of green analytical chemistry (GAC) with its specific principles and how to make the analytical process more environmentally benign with special emphasis on recent applications of GAC. Moreover, the green chromatography, its methods, and some of its applications were outlined. Finally, different techniques available up till now for the assessment of greening of the methods were also presented.     

Synthesis of bridged bicyclic amino alcohols as compact modules for medicinal chemistry

The efficient synthetic routes of three bridged bicyclic amino alcohols were reported. It is conceivable that these compounds could be readily used as compact modules in medicinal chemistry to fine-tune physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties, in order to eventually improve the overall quality of small molecule drug candidates.     

Exploring recent developments on 1,2,4-triazole: Synthesis and biological applications

Triazoles are nitrogen-bearing heterocycles. In the last few decades, researchers have focused on fused heterocycles, as they have better pharmacological effect compared to triazoles alone. Among the two isomers of triazole, this article aims to explore the work carried out on 1,2,4-triazole and N-bridged heterocycles derived from 1,2,4-triazole in last 18 years, highlight different synthetic pathways, and present a brief summary of the different biological activities possessed by 1,2,4-triazole derivatives. The information collected in this article is expected to help researchers to discover novel therapeutic agents for better applications in the field of pharmaceutical science.     

Electron Tunneling in DNA

The reorganization energy that accompanies interfacial or through-strand electron tunneling in DNA is remarkably similar to that of a protein, and the attenuation factor for electron transfer between intercalated reagents also remains protein-like. These factors ensure rapid, but short-range electron tunneling through the duplex (shown schematically).     

Novel arylpyridine‐based 1,3,4‐oxadiazoles: Synthesis,antibacterial, and anti‐inflammatory evaluation

In view of developing novel bioactive compounds, a series of 2‐(5‐[2‐methyl‐6‐arylpyridin‐3‐yl]‐1,3,4‐oxadiazol‐2‐ylthio)‐1‐arylethanones (6a–n) were designed and synthesized in good yield. Novel compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial and anti‐inflammatory activities. All synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bascillus subtilis, Eschericia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. Compounds 6a , 6b , 6c , 6h , and 6i displayed the highest antibacterial activity with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 6.25–12.5 μg/mL in comparison with the standard Ciprofloxacin. The results of anti‐inflammatory activity of carrageenan‐induced footpad edema assay indicated that tested compounds exhibited remarkable anti‐inflammatory activity with percentage of inhibition of 63.9–70.1% (potency 96.8–106.20% of indomethacin activity) after 3 hr. Particularly, 6c – e and 6j – l were found to be excellent inhibitors of inflammation, with potential higher than that of the standard, Indomethacin.     

Analytical chemistry in Belgium: an historical overview

The people, places and political influences of importance in the history of chemistry in Belgium have been reviewed with particular reference to analytical chemistry. Correspondence: D. Thorburn Burns, The Science Library, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, BT9 5AG Northern Ireland, UK     

电喷雾电离质谱在化学中应用新进展

电喷雾电离质谱(ESI-MS)是本世纪发展的非常重要的质谱,具有无碎片的特点,可分析检测非挥发性的、极性的、热不稳定的化合物。评述了ESI-MS在富勒烯化学、无机配合物、簇合物、有机化学反应,金属有机化合物及超分子化学中的应用进展。     

一氧化氮生物有机化学研究进展

综述了一氧化氮近十多年来在生物有机化学领域的研究进展,系统地讨论了NO的生理功能与其生物有机化学反应之间的关系.