Total synthesis and biological evaluation of (-)apicularen A and analogues thereof

Apicularen A (1) and related benzolactone acylenamines belong to a growing class of novel natural products possessing highly cytotoxic properties. The challenging structure of 1 includes a 10-membered macrolactone ring, a tetrahydropyran system, an o,m-substituted phenol and a doubly unsaturated acyl group attached on the side chain enamine functionality. The total synthesis of apicularen A described herein involves a strategy equivalent to its proposed biosynthesis and entails a reiterative two-step procedure featuring allylation and ozonolytic cleavage to grow the molecule's chain by one acetate unit at a time. The developed synthetic technology was applied to the construction of a series of apicularen A analogues whose biological evaluation established a set of structure-activity relationships in this new area of potential importance in cancer chemotherapy.     

Thermal radiation and surface roughness effects on the thermo-magneto-hydrodynamic stability of alumina–copper oxide hybrid nanofluids utilizing the generalized Buongiorno’s nanofluid model

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Sequel to the fact that hybrid nanofluidic systems (e.g. scalable micro-/nanofluidic device) exhibit greater thermal resistance with increasing...     

Synthesis and evaluation of some new hydrazones as corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in acidic media

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Mild steel corrosion in HCl solution is an example of corrosion in acidic mediums. The ongoing research efforts to develop novel environmentally friendly...     

Ultrasound-assisted one-pot synthesis of anti-CML nucleosides featuring 1,2,3-triazole nucleobase under iron-copper catalysis

A simple and efficient synthesis of modified 1,2,3-triazole nucleosides was developed. The strategy involved sequential one-pot acetylation-azidation-cycloaddition procedure and was found to be highly effective under a cooperative effect of ultrasound activation and iron/copper catalysis. The reactions were carried out under both conventional and ultrasonic irradiation conditions. In general, improvement in rates and yields were observed when reactions were carried out under sonication compared with conventional conditions. This one-pot procedure provides several advantages such as operational simplicity, high yield, safety and environment friendly protocol. The resulting substituted nucleosides were evaluated for their anticancer activity against K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cell line.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of new polynuclear complexes of 1-hydroxymethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazole with Ni(II) and Fe(II)

The complexation of the simple 1-hydroxymethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazole (HL) ligand with Fe and Ni salts leads to interesting polynuclear complexes in good yield. X-ray diffraction reveals that the resulting complexes (μ₄-L)₄Ni₄Cl₄(H₂O)₄ and (μ₂-L)₄(μ₃-L)₂Fe₈Cl₁₆(μ₄-O)₆ adopt cubane-type and open-cubane-type structures in the solid state.     

A HTS Assay for the Detection of Organophosphorus Nerve Agent Scavengers

A new pro‐fluorescent probe aimed at a HTS assay of scavengers is able to selectively and efficiently cleave the P? S bond of organophosphorus nerve agents and by this provides non‐toxic phosphonic acid has been designed and synthesised. The previously described pro‐fluorescent probes were based on a conventional activated P? Oaryl bond cleavage, whereas our approach uses a self‐immolative linker strategy that allows the detection of phosphonothioase activity with respect to a non‐activated P? Salkyl bond. Further, we have also developed and optimised a high‐throughput screening assay for the selection of decontaminants (chemical or biochemical scavengers) that could efficiently hydrolyse highly toxic V ‐type nerve agents. A preliminary screening, realised on a small α‐nucleophile library, allowed us to identify some preliminary “hits”, among which pyridinealdoximes, α‐oxo oximes, hydroxamic acids and, less active but more original, amidoximes were the most promising. Their selective phosphonothioase activity has been further confirmed by using PhX as the substrate, and thus they offer new perspectives for the synthesis of more potent V nerve agent scavengers.