Review on supermolecules as chemical drugs

Supramolecular medicinal chemistry field has been a quite rapidly developing, increasingly active and newly rising interdiscipline which is the new expansion of supramolecular chemistry in pharmaceutical sciences, and is gradually becoming a relatively independent scientific area. Supramolecular drugs could be defined as medicinal supermolecules formed by two or more molecules through non-covalent bonds. So far a lot of supermolecules as chemical drugs have been widely used in clinics. Supermolecules as chemical drugs, i.e. supramolecular chemical drugs or supramolecular drugs, which might have the excellences of lower cost, shorter period, higher potential as clinical drugs for their successful research and development, may possess higher bioavailability, better biocompatibility and drug-targeting, fewer multidrug-resistances, lower toxicity, less adverse effect, and better curative effects as well as safety, and therefore exhibit wide potential application. These overwhelming advantages have drawn enormous special attention. This paper gives the definition of supramolecular drugs, proposes the concept of supramolecular chemical drugs, and systematically reviews the recent advances in the research and development of supermolecules, including organic and inorganic complex ones as chemical drugs in the area of antitumor, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimalarial, antibacterial, antifungal, antivirus, anti-epileptic, cardiovascular agents and magnetic resonance imaging agents and so on. The perspectives of the foreseeable future and potential application of supramolecules as chemical drugs are also presented. Supported by the Southwest University (Grant Nos. SWUB2006018 & XSGX0602), the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (Grant Nos. 2007BB5369 & 2006BB4341) and the Key Project from the Personnel Department of China (Grant No. 2002-99)     

Cholinesterase-responsive supramolecular vesicle

Enzyme-responsive, amphiphilic self-assembly represents one of the increasingly significant topics in biomaterials research and finds feasible applications to the controlled release of therapeutic agents at specific sites where the target enzyme is located. The supramolecular approach, using "superamphiphiles", provides a smart way to fabricate drug delivery systems responsive to enzymatic catalysis. In this work based on the concept of supramolecular chemistry, we report an enzyme-responsive vesicle using p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene as the macrocyclic host and natural enzyme-cleavable myristoylcholine as the guest molecule. The complexation of p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene with myristoylcholine directs the formation of a supramolecular binary vesicle, which is dissipated by cholinesterase with high specificity and efficiency. Cholinesterase is a key protein overexpressed in Alzheimer's disease, and therefore, the present system may have potential for the delivery of Alzheimer's disease drugs.     

三唑类超分子化学与药物研究新进展

三唑环为含有三个氮原子的五元杂环, 唑环具有芳香性和丰富的电子, 易接受质子和络合金属离子, 因而三唑类化合物易通过配位键、氢键、离子-偶极、阳离子-?、?-?堆积、疏水效应以及范德华力等非共价键力形成超分子聚集体, 表现出许多特殊的性能及生物活性, 具有广泛的潜在应用如作为离子受体、材料、医药等. 近些年来, 相关三唑类超分子化学与医药的研究非常活跃, 发展特别迅速, 已成为十分活跃的热点研究领域. 本文结合自己的工作, 参考国内外近五年文献, 首次系统综述了三唑类化合物作为阳离子和阴离子受体以及三唑类超分子作为发光与磁性材料、医药在抗菌、抗真菌、抗癌等方面的研究与开发近况. 希望本综述对三唑类超分子化学与药物的进一步研发有所启迪.     

超分子化学药物研究

超分子药物化学是超分子化学在药学领域的新发展．该领域研究活跃,发展迅速,是一个充满活力的新兴交叉学科领域,并正在逐渐变成一个相对独立的研究领域．迄今已有许多两个或两个以上分子通过非共价键力形成的超分子化学药物应用于临床．超分子化学药物可具有良好的安全性、低毒性、不良反应少、高生物利用度、药物靶向性强、多药耐药性小、生物相容性好、高疗效以及其开发成本低、周期短、成功可能性大等诸多优点而备受关注,显示出超分子化学药物具有很大的发展潜力．本文首次给出了超分子药物的定义．结合自己的工作,参考国内外文献综述了超分子化学药物在抗肿瘤、抗炎镇痛、抗疟、抗菌、抗真菌、抗结核、抗病毒、抗癫痫、作为心血管和磁共振成像药物等医药领域的研究与开发状况,并展望其发展趋势与应用前景．     

芳基钌抗癌化合物的研究进展

无机药物化学领域正在快速发展,尤其是有机金属配合物作为癌症的治疗和诊断试剂有很大的潜力.芳基钌配合物中芳基对抗癌活性有重要影响,并能调控配合物金属中心的热力学和动力学性能.配合物的构效关系研究,对进一步合理设计/合成具有潜在药用价值的有机金属配合物至关重要.本文选取钌芳基配合物作为抗癌药物的具体实例进行讨论,重点介绍了多种芳基钌配合物的构效关系及抗癌机理.     

Coronarenes: recent advances and perspectives on macrocyclic and supramolecular chemistry

Synthetic macrocyclic host molecules always play an essential role in the establishment and development of supramolecular chemistry. Along with the continuous interests in the study of classical macrocycles, recent decades have witnessed the emergence and rapid development of the chemistry and supramolecular chemistry of novel and functional macrocycles. Owing to their easy availability, a self-tunable V-shaped cavity resulted from 1,3-alternate conformation, and diversified electronic features steered by the interplay between heteroatom linkages and aromatic rings, heteracalixaromatics act as a type of versatile and powerful macrocyclic hosts in molecular recognition and fabrication of supramolecular systems. Very recently, by means of engineering the bond connectivity or the recombination of chemical bonds within heteracalixaromatics, we have devised coronarenes, a new generation of macrocycles. In this concise review, macrocyclic and supramolecular chemistry of coronarenes are summarized in the order of their syntheses, structural features, molecular recognition and self-assembly properties. In the last part of this article, personal perspectives on the study of macrocyclic and supramolecular chemistry will also be discussed.     

An Update on Synthesis of Coumarin Sulfonamides as Enzyme Inhibitors and Anticancer Agents

Coumarin is an important six-membered aromatic heterocyclic pharmacophore, widely distributed in natural products and synthetic molecules. The versatile and unique features of coumarin nucleus, in combination with privileged sulfonamide moiety, have enhanced the broad spectrum of biological activities. The research and development of coumarin, sulfonamide-based pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry have become active topics, and attracted the attention of medicinal chemists, pharmacists, and synthetic chemists. Coumarin sulfonamide compounds and analogs as clinical drugs have been used to cure various diseases with high therapeutic potency, which have shown their enormous development value. The diversified and wide array of biological activities such as anticancer, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antioxidant and anti-viral, etc. were displayed by diversified coumarin sulfonamides. The present systematic and comprehensive review in the current developments of synthesis and the medicinal chemistry of coumarin sulfonamide-based scaffolds give a whole range of therapeutics, especially in the field of oncology and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. In the present review, various synthetic approaches, strategies, and methodologies involving effect of catalysts, the change of substrates, and the employment of various synthetic reaction conditions to obtain high yields is cited.     

Medicinal Organometallic Chemistry: Designing Metal Arene Complexes as Anticancer Agents

The field of medicinal inorganic chemistry is rapidly advancing. In particular organometallic complexes have much potential as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The carbon‐bound and other ligands allow the thermodynamic and kinetic reactivity of the metal ion to be controlled and also provide a scaffold for functionalization. The establishment of structure–activity relationships and elucidation of the speciation of complexes under conditions relevant to drug testing and formulation are crucial for the further development of promising medicinal applications of organometallic complexes. Specific examples involving the design of ruthenium and osmium arene complexes as anticancer agents are discussed.     

Chemistry and biological activities of CO-releasing molecules (CORMs) and transition metal complexes

The advent of CO as a small molecule that, in addition to NO, elicits essential biological functions has initiated the search for compounds and complexes capable of releasing CO in a well defined manner under physiological conditions. Since some pharmacological and therapeutic effects of CO have been established in preclinical studies, tailor-made CO-releasing molecules (CORMs) which could be utilized as pharmaceuticals could be of great benefit for many patients. Release of CO(2) is one of the most common features in chemistry and NO producing molecules are very well established but compounds with CO-releasing properties are rare. Some of the more promising candidates and molecules under study are discussed in this article. Furthermore, molecules that possess intrinsic features to serve as potential CO-RMs and merit in depth investigations are proposed. The focus is thereby on main group compounds and on transition element complexes. It should be emphasized that CORMs not only have encouraging prospects as therapeutic agents but may also be significant for synthetic pathways to novel complexes containing the CO ligand. To underline the prospects of CORMs, the chemical part is embedded in a biological and medicinal context.     

三唑类药物研究新进展

三唑类化合物作为药物广泛应用于临床,是目前药物研究开发的重点领域之一．越来越多的高活性、低毒性、不良反应少、多药耐药性小、生物利用率高、药代动力学性质好、药物靶向性强、给药方式多样化、广谱、高疗效的三唑类化合物作为候选药物或药物用于临床医治多种疾病,显示出了三唑类化合物在医药领域的巨大开发价值和潜在的宽广应用．本文结合自己的工作,参考国内外近五年文献系统地综述了三唑类化合物作为药物在整个医药领域的研究与开发近况,包括抗真菌、抗细菌、抗结核、抗癌、抗病毒、抗炎镇痛、抗惊厥等,并展望其发展趋势与前景．希望该评论有助于为高活性低毒性三唑类医药合理设计提供新思路．     

金属氮杂环卡宾配合物的抗肿瘤活性研究进展

自1978年顺铂成功地被开发成癌症临床治疗药物以来,金属配合物作为小分子抗癌药物的开发成为人们的研究热点。其中,氮杂环卡宾能与多种过渡金属中心形成稳定的共价键,这种特殊的稳定性使得金属氮杂环卡宾配合物具有被开发成药物的潜能。近年来,金属氮杂环卡宾配合物被发现具有良好的抗癌活性,激发了广大无机药物化学研究者的研究热情。综合笔者课题组在金属氮杂环卡宾抗肿瘤配合物方面的前期研究,本文将对银、金、铑和铂氮杂环卡宾配合物的抗肿瘤活性及作用机制进行综述,以期为新型金属氮杂环卡宾抗肿瘤化合物的设计合成提供参考。     

Construction of unsymmetrical bis-urea macrocyclic host for neutral molecule and chloride-ion binding

Construction of synthetic macrocyclic host that can bind with neutral molecules and anions has potential applications in supramolecular chemistry. Herein, we have designed and synthesized blue light emitting an unsymmetrical neutral bis-urea macrocyclic host. This macrocycle can bind with neutral DMF molecule (1:1) as well as Cl⁻ ion (1:1) through noncovalent interactions. X-Ray crystal structure, ¹H NMR titrations with Job's Plot, HRMS with isotropic distribution pattern, FT-IR, and density functional theory analysis revealed the binding of bis-urea macrocyclic host with the guest molecule.     

基于大环分子的主客体超分子荧光探针

针对环境污染源的早期检测和疾病的预防与治疗已经研究开发出许多检测技术手段,其中,荧光探针作为一种方便、灵敏、可视化的检测技术得到了广泛关注与认可。大环分子荧光探针作为一类重要的荧光探针逐渐引起了研究者的关注。大环分子具有特定尺寸、可特异性配合某些基团的空腔。因此,在设计这类荧光探针时可以充分利用大环分子的空腔优势。此外,大环分子容易通过化学修饰制备多种功能化衍生物,这也为设计大环荧光探针提供了更多选择。本文回顾了大环分子荧光探针的设计策略,主要从探针的化学组成以及相互作用机理来阐述,为大环分子荧光探针的设计提供了系统的理论指导。     

Supramolecular systems-based extraction-separation techniques coupled to mass spectrometry

The combination of supramolecular chemistry and MS has not only been fruitful in the field of gas-phase fundamental studies of host-guest complexes and supramolecular assemblies. Mass spectrometric analysis has also benefited from the ability of supramolecular systems to behave as pseudophases in which solutes partition from the bulk solvent phase. Supramolecular systems-based extraction and concentration schemes and separation techniques have been widely used in different fields of analytical chemistry and are ideally suited for coupling with MS. This review describes the present status of the application of supramolecular chemistry in mass spectrometric analysis and includes topics such as the use of coacervative liquid-liquid extraction and hemimicelle/admicelle-based SPE of organic compounds prior to chromatography and electrophoresis. It also discusses the recent advances in enantioselective analysis using CD in electrophoresis- and chromatography-MS. The potential and analytical challenges of these approaches in environmental and bioanalytical chemistry, where one can expect significant developments in the future, are outlined.     

Chiral benzimidazoles and their applications in stereodiscrimination processes

Chiral aspects of benzimidazoles have been over-shadowed for a long time due to the large number of reports on benzimidazoles in the medical field in numerous categories of therapeutic agents. The vigorous research activity in chiral applications of benzimidazole derivatives started after bifunctional benzimidazoles made their appearance especially in the last 2–3 decades. Thus, chiral benzimidazoles form a comparatively young branch of chiral chemistry. The presence of pyridine and pyrrole type of nitrogens along with the fused benzene ring confer on this class of molecules, special properties including useful nucleophilicity, hydrogen bonding ability and a rigid backbone, all of which play decisive roles in proven chiral applications. The present review aims to cover the synthetic routes to access chiral benzimidazoles and their applications in a plethora of chiral fields including enantioselective organocatalysis, metal-based catalysis, asymmetric transformations involving benzimidazole-N-heterocyclic carbenes, kinetic resolution, benzimidazole-based macrocyclic hosts in chiral supramolecular chemistry and other miscellaneous chiral applications.     

Targeted and multifunctional arene ruthenium chemotherapeutics

The introduction of multifunctionalities for tumour targeting is becoming a popular strategy toward the development of new therapeutic agents. In particular, the multifaceted potential of ruthenium(II)-arene complexes show great promise as chemotherapeutics. An ever-increasing number of papers dealing with the integration of ruthenium complexes with biologically active molecules to derive bioorganometallic molecules of chemotherapeutic significance have been published in recent years. This perspective review presents a short overview of multifunctional ruthenium-based drugs, especially those containing arene ruthenium complexes, with the emphasis on the combination of photosensitizers with ruthenium complexes for the preparation of novel multifunctional photodynamic therapy agents.     

Emerging Supramolecular Therapeutic Carriers Based on Host–Guest Interactions

Recent advances in host–guest chemistry have significantly influenced the construction of supramolecular soft biomaterials. The highly selective and non‐covalent interactions provide vast possibilities of manipulating supramolecular self‐assemblies at the molecular level, allowing a rational design to control the sizes and morphologies of the resultant objects as carrier vehicles in a delivery system. In this Focus Review, the most recent developments of supramolecular self‐assemblies through host–guest inclusion, including nanoparticles, micelles, vesicles, hydrogels, and various stimuli‐responsive morphology transition materials are presented. These sophisticated materials with diverse functions, oriented towards therapeutic agent delivery, are further summarized into several active domains in the areas of drug delivery, gene delivery, co‐delivery and site‐specific targeting deliveries. Finally, the possible strategies for future design of multifunctional delivery carriers by combining host–guest chemistry with biological interface science are proposed.     

Controllable macrocyclic supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solution

A series of macrocycles, including crown ethers, cyclodextrins, calixarenes, pillararenes and cucurbiturils, are well known to be able to associate various organic/inorganic/biological guest molecules and ions in their well-defined cyclic cavities to form stable host-guest complexes and supramolecular systems through the cooperative contributions of various non-covalent interactions. When one or more functional groups are attached to the cavity of macrocycles or guest molecules, enhanced and/or controlled host-guest associations may take place, leading to not only improved host-guest binding abilities but also fascinating properties. In this review, some representative contributions in the construction of controllable macrocyclic supramolecular assemblies in aqueous solution are presented with an emphasis on the stimuli-responsive control manner and wide applications of this property.     

The formation of complexes by tetraethylresorcarene with planar guest ions studied by electrospray ionisation Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Resorcarenes have become a popular subject of study in the field of supramolecular chemistry. In this work the formation of host-guest complexes between a synthetic macrocyclic host, tetraethylresorcarene, and various eligible planar guests, was studied by mass spectrometric methods. The size and nature of the guest ion strongly influenced the complex formation. Collision-induced dissociation experiments revealed the fragmentation patterns of the resorcarene skeleton and the differences in fragmentation induced by the guest ions.     

Diketopyrrolopyrrole-based functional supramolecular polymers: next-generation materials for optoelectronic applications

The very concept of dye and pigment chemistry that was long known to the industrial world underwent a radical revision after the discovery and commercialization of dyes such as mauveine, indigo, and so on. Apart from their conventional role as coloring agents, organic dyes, and pigments have been identified as indispensable sources for high-end technological applications including optical and electronic devices. Simultaneous with the advancement in the supramolecular chemistry of π-conjugated systems and the divergent evolution of organic semiconductor materials, several dyes, and pigments have emerged as potential candidates for contemporary optoelectronic devices. Of all the major pigments, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) better known as the ‘Ferrari Pigment’ and its derivatives have emerged as a major class of organic functional dyes that find varied applications in fields such as industrial pigments, organic solar cells, organic field–effect transistors, and in bioimaging. Since its discovery in 1974 by Farnum and Mehta, DPP-derived dyes gained rapid attention because of its attractive color, synthetic feasibility, ease of functionalization, and tunable optical and electronic properties. The advancement in supramolecular polymerization of DPP-based small molecules and oligomers with directed morphological and electronic features have led to the development of high performing optoelectronic devices. In this review, we highlight the recent developments in the optoelectronic applications of DPP derivatives specifically engineered to form supramolecular polymers.