A One-Pot Approach to Novel Pyridazine C-Nucleosides

The synthesis of glycosides and modified nucleosides represents a wide research field in organic chemistry. The classical methodology is based on coupling reactions between a glycosyl donor and an acceptor. An alternative strategy for new C-nucleosides is used in this approach, which consists of modifying a pre-existent furyl aglycone. This approach is applied to obtain novel pyridazine C-nucleosides starting with 2- and 3-(ribofuranosyl)furans. It is based on singlet oxygen [4+2] cycloaddition followed by reduction and hydrazine cyclization under neutral conditions. The mild three-step one-pot procedure leads stereoselectively to novel pyridazine C-nucleosides of pharmacological interest. The use of acetyls as protecting groups provides an elegant direct route to a deprotected new pyridazine C-nucleoside.     

σ2 Receptor and Its Role in Cancer with Focus on a MultiTarget Directed Ligand (MTDL) Approach

Sigma-2 (σ₂) is an endoplasmic receptor identified as the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein TMEM97. Despite its controversial identity, which was only recently solved, this protein has gained scientific interest because of its role in the proliferative status of cells; many tumor cells from different organs overexpress the σ₂ receptor, and many σ₂ ligands display cytotoxic actions in (resistant) cancer cells. These properties have shed light on the σ₂ receptor as a potential druggable target to be bound/activated for the diagnosis or therapy of tumors. Additionally, diverse groups have shown how the σ₂ receptor can be exploited for the targeted delivery of the anticancer drugs to tumors. As the cancer disease is a multifactorial pathology with multiple cell populations, a polypharmacological approach is very often needed. Instead of the simultaneous administration of different classes of drugs, the use of one molecule that interacts with diverse pharmacological targets, namely MultiTarget Directed Ligand (MTDL), is a promising and currently pursued strategy, that may overcome the pharmacokinetic problems associated with the administration of multiple molecules. This review aims to point out the progress regarding the σ₂ ligands in the oncology field, with a focus on MTDLs directed towards σ₂ receptors as promising weapons against (resistant) cancer diseases.     

On a class of pseudodifferential operators on the product of compact Lie groups

In this paper, a bisingular pseudodifferential calculus, along the lines of the one introduced by L. Rodino in his paper of 1975, is developed in the global setting of a product of compact Lie groups. The approach follows that introduced by M. Ruzhansky and V. Turunen in their book of 2010 (see also V. Fischer's paper of 2015), in that it exploits the harmonic analysis of the groups involved.     

Photoinduced Gilch Polymerization: A Basically New Access to Poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) (PPVs) of Exciting Constitutional Homogeneity

A novel procedure has been developed for the Gilch reaction leading to poly(p‐phenylene vinylenes) (PPVs). In the first step, selective activation of the starting material is achieved at low temperature. Subsequently, controlled chain growth is induced by lighting the α‐halo‐p‐quinodimethane monomer. In contrast to the thermal Gilch polymerization, the photoinduced process allows adjusting crucial parameters such as intensity and energy of light. The progress of PPV formation can be followed visually or by in situ UV–vis spectroscopy. If the polymers are formed under appropriate conditions, they show very high molar masses, polydispersities in the common range, and higher constitutional homogeneity than thermally grown PPVs.

     

Inherently chiral electrodes: the tool for chiral voltammetry

2,2′-Bis[2-(5,2′-bithienyl)]-3,3′-bithianaphthene oligomers are a model case of electroactive films endowed with “inherent chirality”, originating from a stereogenic element coinciding with the whole electroactive backbone, thus resulting in impressive manifestations. This study highlights their applicative potentialities as low-cost and easy-to-prepare artificial enantiopure electrode surfaces, which display an unprecedented ability to pronouncedly separate voltammetry peaks of enantiomers of quite different chiral probes of applicative interest, concurrently with linear dynamic ranges for peak currents, affording enantiomer excess determination. Thus inherently chiral enantiopure electrodes can indeed be regarded as a key to chiral voltammetry.     

Constant pH Molecular Dynamics in Explicit Solvent with λ-Dynamics

pH is an important parameter in condensed-phase systems, because it determines the protonation state of titratable groups and thus influences the structure, dynamics, and function of molecules in solution. In most force field simulation protocols, however, the protonation state of a system (rather than its pH) is kept fixed and cannot adapt to changes of the local environment. Here, we present a method, implemented within the MD package GROMACS, for constant pH molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent that is based on the λ-dynamics approach. In the latter, the dynamics of the titration coordinate λ, which interpolates between the protonated and deprotonated states, is driven by generalized forces between the protonated and deprotonated states. The hydration free energy, as a function of pH, is included to facilitate constant pH simulations. The protonation states of titratable groups are allowed to change dynamically during a simulation, thus reproducing average protonation probabilities at a certain pH. The accuracy of the method is tested against titration curves of single amino acids and a dipeptide in explicit solvent.     

The Dirichlet problem for elliptic equations in weighted Sobolev spaces on unbounded domains of the plane

This paper deals with the Dirichlet problem for second order linear elliptic equations in unbounded domains of the plane in weighted Sobolev spaces. We prove an a priori bound and an existence and uniqueness result.