Synthesis,Cytotoxicity, and Structure-Activity Relationships of New Oxaliplatin Derivatives

Summary. In order to setup structure-activity relationships and to explore the possibilities of improving the anticancer activity of oxaliplatin, which was recently approved for combination chemotherapy of metastatic colorectal cancer, new oxaliplatin analogues have been synthesized. The cytotoxicity was determined in nine human tumor cell lines and revealed a comparable or even higher cytotoxic potency in leukemia, ovarian and colon cancer cell lines in the case of small substituents at position 4 of the cyclohexane-1,2-diamine ligand. Introduction of bigger substituents at this position and thereby increasing the steric demand of the diamine ligands and the lipophilicity of the oxaliplatin derivatives resulted in platinum complexes with reduced cytotoxic properties.     

Calixarene-Based Copper(I) Complexes as Models for Monocopper Sites in Enzymes

A cavity that acts as a molecular funnel is formed from calix[6]arene 1 and [Cu^I(NCCH₃)₄]PF₆ [Eq. (a)]. An exchange of the well-protected acetonitrile ligand for other nitriles RCN is only possible with small R groups. The protection of the copper ions precludes oxidative dimerization; thus, the complexes mimic the mononuclear site of copper enzymes.     

Stereocontrolled Synthesis of Oligo(nucleoside phosphorothioate)s

Encouraging results obtained for modulation of gene expression by antisense oligonucleotides and their analogues have kindled hopes for a new generation of therapeutics against viral infections, cancer, and many other diseases. Among such analogues, oligo(nucleoside phosphorothioate)s (Oligo-S) have generally shown the highest efficacy in inhibiting the biosynthesis of “unwanted” proteins. The first clinical trials of antisense agents are now in progress using Oligo-S against genital warts and acute myeloid leukemia, and tests of Oligo-S against AIDS should follow soon. Nevertheless, their mechanism of action, internalization, cellular trafficking, subcellular localization, and interaction with cellular proteins is still poorly understood. It is assumed a priori that application involves rapid and efficient molecular recognition of target RNA by Oligo-S; however, the effects of the chirality of Oligo-S have so far been unappreciated, because Oligo-S has not yet been synthesized with stereocontrol. Indeed, the diastereomeric composition of Oligo-S has never been determined, primarily because of the lack of appropriate analytical methods. Since each of the diastereomers is a stereochemically unique chemical entity, questions arise as to which diastereomer is responsible for an observed biological response, including positive (curative) or possibly negative (toxic) side effects. In this review we intend provide a perhaps somewhat speculative assessment of the problems associated with the stereo-controlled synthesis of Oligo-S and to discuss the state-of-the-art in this field including strategies that may lead to Oligo-S of predetermined chirality. This article is not intended to discourage researchers from further studies of dia-steromeric mixtures of Oligo-S as potential pharmaceuticals. Throughout the history of medicinal chemistry numerous useful medicines were discovered, developed, and employed without the detailed knowledge of their structure. Indeed, the composition of the vaccines discovered by Pasteur is a subject of vigorous study still today.     

Chiral Dicopper Complexes with a Doubly Asymmetric Ligand as Models for the Tyrosinase Active Site: Synthesis,Structure, O2‐Reactivity and Comparison with Their Symmetric Analogs

In order to model the asymmetric active site of the type‐3 copper enzyme tyrosinase the “doubly asymmetric” binucleating ligand 1‐[bis‐N,N‐(pyrid‐2‐ylmethyl)aminomethyl]‐3‐[N‐(pyrid‐2‐ylmethyl)‐N‐(2‐pyrid‐2‐ylethyl)aminomethyl]benzene (“unsDMPA”) is synthesized and coordinated to copper(I). The O₂‐reactivity of the Cu^I(unsDMPA) complex and its analog derived from the symmetric counterpiece of unsDMPA, DMPA, is investigated. Oxygenation in methanol leads to dicopper(II) bis(μ‐hydroxo) and bis(μ‐methanolato) complexes; the dicopper(II) bis(μ‐hydroxo) complex of the unsDMPA ligand is chiral. Oxygenation in dichloromethane leads to oxidative N‐dealkylation. This is attributed to a tendency of DMPA and unsDMPA complexes to form dicopper bis(μ‐oxo) intermediates, as evidenced by DFT. The implications of these results with respect to the design of tyrosinase model systems are discussed.     

Methoxide Coordination at the Pocket of [CuIITpCum,Me] and a Simple Model for the Cu Center of Galactose Oxidase

An unusually negative oxidation potential is found for the tyrosine residue in the center of fungal galactose oxidase. The complex [Cu(Tp^Cum,Me){O(MeS)C₆H₄}] (see picture on the right; Tp^Cum,Me=hydrotris(pyrazolyl)borate) offers insight into the mode of (cysteinyl-tyrosine) coordination to the copper center, and the reason for the low oxidation potential.     

Applications of heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy in biological and medicinal inorganic chemistry

There is a wide range of potential applications of inorganic compounds, and metal coordination complexes in particular, in medicine but progress is hampered by a lack of methods to study their speciation. The biological activity of metal complexes is determined by the metal itself, its oxidation state, the types and number of coordinated ligands and their strength of binding, the geometry of the complex, redox potential and ligand exchange rates. For organic drugs a variety of readily observed spin I = 1/2 nuclei can be used (¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁹F, ³¹P), but only a few metals fall into this category. Most are quadrupolar nuclei giving rise to broad lines with low detection sensitivity (for biological systems). However we show that, in some cases, heteronuclear NMR studies can provide new insights into the biological and medicinal chemistry of a range of elements and these data will stimulate further advances in this area.     

Chemistry and Biology of Taxol

One can view plants as a reference library of compounds waiting to be searched by a chemist who is looking for a particular property. Taxol, a complex polyoxygenated diterpene isolated from the Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia, was discovered during extensive screening of plant materials for antineoplastic agents during the late 1960s. Over the last two decades, interest in and research related to taxol has slowly grown to the point that the popular press now seems poised to scoop each new development. What was once an obscure compound, of interest only to the most masochistic of synthetic chemists and an equally small number of cellular biologists, has become one of the few organic compounds, which, like benzene and aspirin, is recognizable by name to the average citizen. In parallel, the scientific study of taxol has blossomed. Physicians are currently studying its effects on nearly every known neoplasm. Biologists are using taxol to study the mechanisms of cell function by observing the effects of its interactions with the cellular skeletal systems. Synthetic chemists, absorbed by the molecule's unique and sensitive structure and functionality, are exploring seemingly every available pathway for its synthesis. Indeed, the demand for taxol has risen so in the last five years that alternative sources to the extraction of T. brevifolia are being vigorously pursued. Because of the rapidly expanding scope of research in the multifaceted study of taxol, those who are interested in the field may find acquisition of a reasonable base of knowledge an arduous task. For this reason, this account attempts to bring together, for the first time, in a cogent overview the chemistry and biology of this unique molecule.     

Digitalis Research in Berlin–Buch—Retrospective and Perspective Views

“The following remarks consist partially of matter of fact, and partially of opinion. The former will be permanent; the latter must vary with the detection of error, or the improvement of knowledge. I hazard them with diffidence, and hope they will be examined with candour.” These declarations, which stem from the famous book “An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses” by physician William Withering in 1785 in which he introduced preparations from digitalis leaves in the therapy of dropsy (cardiac failure), are cited here by the senior author because of his awareness of the difficulties in presenting a balanced report on his life-long research project on the further development of digitalis. His decision to devote himself to digitalis research originated at the bedside, when as a physician he experienced the grim final stages of cardiac failure in which no real help for the patients is possible. Unfortunately, his research project did not fit into the research program decreed by the Ministry of Science of the German Democratic Republic, so that he was ordered to stop the digitalis project in favor of biomembrane studies. Fortunately, he got round the ban simply by labeling the digitalis-like acting steroids as probes for the cell membrane-located Na⁺/K⁺-transporting ATPase which he had just recognized as the digitalis target (receptor) enzyme. These and other ventures by the authors are collated here for the first time. The aim of this review is to foster straightforward research for solving a major challenge: the development of steroidal drugs for the prevention and cure of cardiac failure.     

Pyrone derivatives and metals: From natural products to metal-based drugs

Pyrone scaffolds are often present in natural products and many derivatives therefore exhibit favorable biocompatibility and toxicity profiles. Hydroxypyrones are obtained from natural sources or can be synthesized by different well established approaches and may easily be converted into the analogous thiopyrones and hydroxypyridones. These features make them well suited to drug development and other biological applications. Herein, we summarize recent literature on the use of (thio)pyr(id)ones in bioinorganic chemistry with a focus on their metal ion chelating properties. Selected examples and different approaches using (thio)pyr(id)ones are presented and the influence of structural modifications on their chemical, physical and biological properties are discussed.     

无机化学的研究进展

本文总结了2010~2013年国内在无机化学领域所取得的研究进展和亮点,以及我国科学家对国际化学界的贡献。全文共引用参考文献92篇。     

Disulfide-Reductase Inhibitors as Chemotherapeutic Agents: The Design of Drugs for Trypanosomiasis and Malaria

Viewed globally, parasitic diseases such as malaria and Chagas' cardiopathy pose an increasing threat to human health and welfare. Recognition of this problem and the challenge of synthesizing a quinine-like antimalarial agent sparked off the development of the chemical industry about 100 years ago. Our contribution deals with aspects of drug design, a young branch of pharmaceutical chemistry. As drug targets the flavoenzyme, glutathione reductase, and the recently discovered parasite enzyme, trypanothione reductase, were chosen. Based on the knowledge of the structure of these molecules, the modeling of enzyme inhibitors as potential chemotherapeutic agents against parasites has become possible. In addition, biochemical and clinical observations are considered since chemical principles of biological evolution can serve as guidelines for the pharmaceutical chemists. The picture shows two erythrocytes destroyed by malaria parasites. In the center of the photograph a parasite is just leaving its host cell through the ruptured cell membrane. Its target could be a neighboring healthy erythrocyte.     

Metal ion function in carbonic anhydrase

The purpose of this review is to present an up-to-date account of the chemistry of the metal ion in the enzyme carbonic anhydrase. The interest lies in how the study of the metal may lead to deductions concerning the chemistry of the enzyme's action and in the way that metalloenzyme chemistry seems to demand a new appraisal of some aspects of the established chemistry of metal complexes.     

Transition-Metal Thiolates: From Molecular Fragments of Sulfidic Solids to Models for Active Centers in Biomolecules

Thiolates are presently a subject of great interest in the chemistry of complexes involving transition-metal elements and soft ligands. The manifold electronic and steric capabilities offered by the monodentate ligands RS^? and the bidentate chelate ligands ^?SRS^? have been used to stabilize a broad spectrum of mononuclear, oligomeric, and polymeric complexes with new and remarkable structures and properties. Impetus has especially been provided by the synthesis of polynuclear cagelike homo- and heteroleptic metal–sulfur frameworks, which can often be regarded as “molecular fragments” of the structures of inorganic sulfides. Thiolates and mixed sulfide-thiolates of the late open- and closed-shell 3d metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) and some of their homologues (Au, Cd, Hg), as well as of Mo, are of particular importance as model complexes for biologically important metal centers coordinated by sulfur. They have played an important role in increasing our understanding of the structure, bonding, and function of the reactive centers in ferredoxins, rubredoxins, nitrogenases, blue copper proteins, metallothioneins, and antiarthritic drugs.     

A new and versatile synthesis of 3-substituted oxetan-3-yl methyl alcohols

We have developed a novel route for the efficient synthesis of pharmaceutically significant 3-substituted oxetan-3-yl methyl alcohols starting from readily available malonates. The synthesis harnesses the diversity of malonate chemistry and allows access to a range of oxetanes, which exemplifies the versatility of this procedure.     

Polymers in medicine

The problems encountered in the use of artificial materials in the body are discussed, using as example the artificial heart. In the quest for suitable materials, numerous investigations have been carried out, including, inter alia, studies on the adsorption of proteins on polymer surfaces and on the passivation of such surfaces by coating with proteins or by the growth of cell cultures. The development of passive artificial substances is also discussed.     

Transition Metal Thiometalates: Properties and Significance in Complex and Bioinorganic Chemistry

In their highest oxidation states the early transition metals V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, and Re form tetrahedral, strongly colored thioanions endowed with some remarkable properties. Thiometalates can be formed by solid-state reactions or in solution from the oxometalates. Poly-thiometalates with mixed valences can be produced by new types of intramolecular condensation-redox reactions from thioanions. The metal-sulfur bonds can react either nucleophilically or electrophilically, and in the case of the Mo–S bonds this is of biochemical interest. It is important to mention the applications of thiometalates as ligands in complex chemistry (generation of multi-metal complexes, versatile coordination behavior, unique electronic properties of the ligands), in which thiometalato complexes with a variety of electron populations can exist because of the marked electron delocalization. Apart from this, MoS has a significance in bioinorganic problems, e.g. the nitrogenase problem and Cu? Mo antagonism.     

Anticoagulatory Substances of Bloodsucking Animals: From Hirudin to Hirudin Mimetics

Bloodsucking animals contain substances in their saliva that specifically interfere with the blood clotting system. These substances are mainly low molecular weight proteins with a molecular mass of between 4 and 50 kDa. Some have become accessible in large quantities with the help of genetic engineering, and as a result their structures and structure—activity relationships have been studied and clinically tested. In the light of what is known about the mode of action of these natural products at the molecular level, new compounds with possible therapeutic effect can be derived. In the last ten years this approach has been tested with the proteinase inhibitor hirudin, obtained from medicinal leeches, and with the thrombin/hirudin complex. The serine protease thrombin plays a central role in the complex pathway of the blood clotting process and its pathophysiological effect finally results in thrombosis. The selectivity of the formation of complexes from hirudin and thrombin lies in the bivalent interaction of the inhibitor with the active site of the enzyme as well as with a substrate recognition site outside of the active site, the so-called fibrin-(ogen) binding site (FBS). The knowledge of this mode of action enabled the synthesis of bifunctional thrombin inhibitors based on hirudin peptides. Hirudin and hirudin mimetics in vivo have been shown to be highly potent anticoagulants for the treatment of arterial and venous thrombosis.     

Synthesis of rac-2′-(trimethylsilyl)isovaline: A novel silicon-containing α,α-dialkylated α-amino acid

An efficient, convenient, and reliable multi-step synthesis of rac-2′-(trimethylsilyl)isovaline (rac-3) that uses inexpensive reagents in all steps has been developed, starting from diethyl malonate (overall yield 28%). Compound rac-3 is the first α-ethylated α,α-dialkylated silicon-containing α-amino acid.     

Synthesis,Structure, and Spectroscopic Properties of [Feiii(tnpa)(OH)(PhCOO)]ClO4: A Model Complex for an Active Form of Soybean Lipoxygenase-1

The cis configuration between the hydroxo and the carboxylato and the three amino groups of the tetradentate, tripodal ligand tris(6-neopentylamino-2-pyridylmethyl)amine favors the formation of hydrogen bonds which stabilize the hydroxo–Feⁱⁱⁱ complex 1 . Thus, its structure closely resembles that of the active center of Feⁱⁱⁱ –soybean lipoxygenase-1, which also contains a six-coordinate Feⁱⁱⁱ atom.