Catalyst‐Free One‐Pot Synthesis of Ketene Imines under Ultrasound Irradiation

An efficient and simple procedure for the synthesis of ketene imines via a one‐pot three‐component reaction of cyclohexyl isocyanide, diethyl acetylenedicarboxylate, and 1,4‐dihydropyridines under ultrasonic irradiation is described. The remarkable advantages are the simplicity of the experimental procedures, high yields, and short reaction times.     

Stereoselective aziridination of imines via ammonium ylides: A molecular electron density theory study

The highly trans-stereoselective reaction of ammonium salt ( AS 2 ) toward (E)-N-benzylidene-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide ( IM 4 ) in the presence of Na₂CO₃ leading to an aziridine derivative, trans -Az 6 , was theoretically studied using Molecular Electron Density Theory (MEDT) at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) computational level to probe energy transformation, selectivities, and molecular mechanism. The reaction starts by a nucleophilic substitution reaction between 1,4-diazabicyclo [2.2.2]octane ( DABCO ) and phenacyl bromide ( PB ) to form AS 2 which undergoes a proton abstraction by Na₂CO₃ to produce Ammonium Ylide ( AY 3) . Subsequently, nucleophilic addition of AY 3 to the double bond in IM 4 leads to form a betaine-like intermediate, namely, IN-Ta which named IN-Ta . Finally, trans -Az 6 is produced as a result of the nucleophilic attack of the negatively charged nitrogen atom on the carbon atom bearing DABCO in IN-Ta . Analysis of the relative Gibbs free energies shows that the ring closure step is the rate-determining step (RDS). By an investigation of the conceptual density functional theory, CDFT reactivity indices AY 3 and IM 4 are classified as a strong nucleophilic molecular system and as a strong electrophilic molecular system, respectively, which implies that the addition step of AY 3 to IM 4 has a high polar character. An analysis of the calculated electrophilic and nucleophilic Parr functions at the reactive sites of reagents clarifies the regioselectivity observed experimentally within the C₁–C₂ bond creation process.     

Synthesis,cytotoxic assessment,and molecular docking studies of 2,6-diaryl-substituted pyridine and 3,4- dihydropyrimidine-2(1H)-one scaffolds

Cancer is one of the main global health problems. In order to develop novel antitumor agents, we synthesized 3,4-dihydropyrimidine-2(1H)-one (DHPM) and 2,6-diaryl-substituted pyridine derivatives as potential antitumor structures and evaluated their cytotoxic effects against several cancer cell lines. An easy and convenient method is reported for the synthesis of these derivatives, employing cobalt ferrite (CoFe ₂ O ₄ @SiO ₂ -SO ₃ H) magnetic nanoparticles under microwave irradiation and solvent-free conditions. The structural characteristics of the prepared nanocatalyst were investigated by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TGA techniques. In vitro cytotoxic effects of the synthesized products were assessed against the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7), gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS), and human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells via MTT assay. The results indicated that compound 4r (DHPM derivative) was the most toxic molecule against the MCF-7 cell line (IC ₅₀ of 0.17 μg/mL). Moreover, compounds 4j and 4r (DHPM derivatives) showed excellent cytotoxic activities against the AGS cell line, with an IC ₅₀ of 4.90 and 4.97 μg/mL, respectively. Although they are pyridine derivatives, compounds 5g and 5m were more active against the MCF-7 cell line. Results showed that the candidate compounds exhibited low cytotoxicity against HEK293 cells. The kinesin Eg5 inhibitory potential of the candidate compounds was evaluated by molecular docking. The docking results showed that, among the pyridine derivatives, compound 5m had the most free energy of binding (–9.52 kcal/mol) and lowest Ki (0.105 μM), and among the pyrimidine derivatives, compound 4r had the most free energy of binding (–7.67 kcal/mol) and lowest Ki (2.39 μM). Ligand-enzyme affinity maps showed that compounds 4r and 5m had the potential to interact with the Eg5 binding site via H-bond interactions to GLU116 and GLY117 residues. The results of our study strongly suggest that DHPM and pyridine derivatives inhibit important tumorigenic features of breast and gastric cancer cells. Our results may be helpful in the further design of DHPMs and pyridine derivatives as potential anticancer agents.     

Facile Heteropolyacid-Promoted Synthesis of Indeno[1,2-b]quinoline-9,11(6H,10H)-dione Derivatives

An efficient synthesis of indeno[1,2-b]quinoline-9,11(6H,10H)-dione derivatives was reported via four-component coupling reaction of aldehydes, dimedone, 1,3-indandione, and amines in refluxing ethanol or three-component condensation of aldehydes, 1,3-indandione, and 5,5-dimethyl-3-arylamino-cyclohex-2-enone derivatives at 120 °C under solvent-free conditions in the presence of a catalytic amount of Preyssler-type heteropolyacid, H₁₄[NaP₅W₃₀O₁₁₀], as a green and reusable catalyst.     

Diastereoselective O-Vinylation of Phenols using DMAD under Mild Reaction Conditions

An efficient and straightforward pyridine-catalyzed method allowing selective O-vinylation of phenols with DMAD is reported. The reaction is diastereoselective and leads exclusively to (Z)-configuration in high yields.     

SnCl4/SiO2: An Efficient Heterogeneous Alternative for One‐Pot Synthesis of β‐Acetamidoketones

Enolizable ketones have been reacted in a one‐pot method with aromatic aldehydes, acetyl chloride and acetonitrile at room temperature in the presence of SnCl₄/SiO₂ to furnish the corresponding β‐acet‐amidoketones in improved yields. Acetylation of an aromatic hydroxyl group was observed while using 4‐hydroxybenzaldehyde or vanillin and the corresponding β‐acetamidoketones were isolated in an excellent yield.     

Stabilizing network bargaining games by blocking players

Cooperative matching games (Shapley and Shubik) and Network bargaining games (Kleinberg and Tardos) are games described by an undirected graph, where the vertices represent players. An important role in such games is played by stable graphs, that are graphs whose set of inessential vertices (those that are exposed by at least one maximum matching) are pairwise non adjacent. In fact, stable graphs characterize instances of such games that admit the existence of stable outcomes. In this paper, we focus on stabilizing instances of the above games by blocking as few players as possible. Formally, given a graph G we want to find a minimum cardinality set of vertices such that its removal from G yields a stable graph. We give a combinatorial polynomial-time algorithm for this problem, and develop approximation algorithms for some NP-hard weighted variants, where each vertex has an associated non-negative weight. Our approximation algorithms are LP-based, and we show that our analysis are almost tight by giving suitable lower bounds on the integrality gap of the used LP relaxations.     

Effects of the HCN adsorption on the structural and electronic parameters of the beryllium oxide nanotube

The adsorption behavior of the HCN on the surface of beryllium oxide nanotube (BeONT) is studied by the density functional theory. Geometrical parameters, electronic properties and adsorption energies have been calculated for the BeONT and fourteen different HCN configurations on the nanotube. According to the obtained results, the process of the HCN molecule adsorption on different sites on the external surface of the nanotube is exothermic and all of the configurations are stable, while the process of HCN molecule adsorption on the internal surface of the BeONT is endothermic. The adsorption energy values indicate that the HCN molecule can be physically adsorbed on the surface of the BeONT. Furthermore, the HOMO–LUMO gap (Eg) of the BeONT decreases upon the HCN adsorption, resulting in the enhancement of the electrical conductivity. The AIM theory has been also utilized to analyze the properties of the bond critical points: their electron densities and their Laplacians. NBO analysis indicates that the HCN molecule can be adsorbed on the surface of the nanotube with a charge transfer from nanotube to HCN molecule. Due to the physisorption, NQR parameters of nanotube are also altered. In order to examine the deformation degree of the nanotube after HCN molecule adsorption, deformation energy is calculated, which indicates that no significant curvature in the geometry of the nanotubes is occurred when HCN adsorbs onto the surface of BeONT.     

Ferulone A and ferulone B: two new coumarin esters from Ferula orientalis L. roots

Ferula orientalis (Apiaceae) is a well-known perennial herb growing wild in Iran used in traditional medicine. To perform phytochemical studies, dried ground roots of F. orientalis were sequentially Soxhlet-extracted using n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. A combination of vacuum liquid chromatography and preparative thin-layer chromatographic analyses were performed to isolate coumarin esters. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic means, and in vitro free-radical-scavenging property was determined by the DPPH assay. Two new coumarin esters, 7-O-(4,8,12,16-tetrahydroxy-4,8,12,16-tetramethyl-heptadecanoyl)-coumarinand 7-O-(4-hydroxy-4,8,12-trimethyl-trideca-7,11-dienoyl)-coumarin, named ferulone A and ferulone B, respectively, were isolated from the n-hexane extract of the roots of F. orientalis. Both compounds showed a low level of free-radical-scavenging property with the RC₅₀ values of 0.252 and 0.556 mg/mL for compounds 1 and 2, respectively, as opposed to that of the positive control (quercetin) 0.004 mg/mL. This is the first report on the purification of coumarin esters from the genus Ferula.