Synthesis of 5-fluoro-2-methyl-3-(2-trifluoromethyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-5-yl)-4(3H)-quinazolinone and related compounds with potential antiviral and anticancer activity

The synthesis of ten new substituted 1,3,4-thiadiazolyl-4(3H)-quinazolinones 8–11, 13, 17 , and 20–23 is reported. Compounds 8–11 were prepared by condensation of 5-fluoro-2-methyl-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (3) and 5-substituted 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazoles 4–7. Compound 13 was obtained by condensation of 5-fluoro-2-methyl-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (3) with DL-α-amino-?-caprolactam (12) . Compound 17 was synthesized by condensation of 6-bromo-2-methyl-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (16) and 2-amino-5-t-butyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (5) . Compounds 20–23 were obtained by condensation of 5-chloro-6,8-dibromo-2-methyl-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (19) and 5-substituted 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazoles 4–7, respectively. The substituted 3,1-benzoxazin-4-ones 3, 16, and 19 were obtained in good yield by refluxing the appropriate anthranilic acid, 1,15 , and 18 with acetic anhydride (2) .     

PA.FPNS: its synthesis and use in spectrophotometric determination of magnesium

A new polymeric chromogenic reagent PA.FPNS has been synthesized by condensing polyallylamine (PA) with 3-(4-formylphenylazo)-4,5-dihydroxynaphthalene-2,7-disulfonic acid (FPNS) and its properties studied. In alkaline media, PA.FPNS reacts with magnesium to form a water-soluble blue complex, whose absorption maximum is at 604 nm. The molar absorptivity (varepsilon) of the complex is 5.2 x 10(4)l mol(-1) cm(-1), which is four times that of the FPNS-Mg complex, and Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0-0.35 mug ml(-1) magnesium. Compared to the corresponding low-molecular-weight FPNS and other chromogenic reagents, PA.FPNS offers considerably improved sensitivity and selectivity for magnesium, which may be attributed to incorporating FPNS into a water-soluble polymer and the effect of the polymeric chain on the reaction microenvironment. Also, a simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of magnesium has been developed and applied to water and human fluid samples with satisfactory results.     

Tetra‐μ‐acetato‐κ2O:O′‐bis[(4‐phenylpyridine‐κN)copper(II)]

The title compound, [Cu₂(C₂H₃O₂)₄(C₁₁H₉N)₂] or [Cu₂(MeCO₂)₄(phpy)₂] (phpy is 4‐phenyl­pyridine), consists of centrosymmetric dimers in which the Cu^II atoms display a square‐pyramidal CuO₄N coordination, with four acetate O atoms in the basal plane [Cu—O 1.975 (3)–1.987 (3) Å] and the phpy N atom in the apical position [Cu—N 2.150 (3) Å]. The Cu atoms are 2.654 (1) Å apart and are bridged by four acetate groups. The discrete dimers are extended into a three‐dimensional supramolecular array through intermolecular π–π‐stacking interactions.     

Photooxidized products of recombinant alpha A-crystallin and W9F mutant

Human lenses contain many photosensitizers that absorb light at wavelengths above 300 nm, most notably UVA light (320-400 nm). Kynurenine (Kyn) and 3-hydroxykynurenine (HK), two of the best-known photosensitizers in the human lens, may play a significant role in photooxidation-related changes in lens proteins, such as conformational change and aggregation. In vitro irradiation experiments with proteins indicate that the Trp residue (with maximal absorption at 295 nm) is more susceptible to photooxidation by UVB light (280-320 nm) than by UVA light, but most UVB light below 300 nm is screened by the cornea and little reaches the lens, especially the nuclear region where nuclear color develops. Therefore, if photooxidation is an important contributor to nuclear color or nuclear cataract, it must arise from a photosensitized reaction. In the present study, we use recombinant alpha A- and its Trp-deficient mutant W9F as models to study the effects of UVA irradiation in the presence of HK or Kyn and of UVB (300 nm) irradiation on alpha-crystallins. alpha A-crystallin showed a large decrease in Trp fluorescence and a large increase in non-Trp (blue) fluorescence after the HK-sensitized or 300 nm photooxidation. For the W9F mutant, a smaller decrease in protein fluorescence (lambda ex at 280 nm) and a smaller increase in blue fluorescence than for the wild-type alpha A-crystallin were observed. A decrease in the near-UV CD was also observed for both photooxidized alpha A and the W9F mutant. The effect of Kyn sensitization is smaller than that of HK sensitization. A study of chaperone-like activity indicated that only 300 nm photooxidized alpha A and the W9F mutant increased the ability to protect insulin from dithiothreitol-induced aggregation. Thus, sensitized photooxidation can occur in amino acids other than Trp by UVA in the presence of HK or Kyn with effects similar to, albeit smaller than, those of direct UVB (300 nm) photooxidation.     

INVESTIGATION OF THE ALLOMERIZATION REACTION OF CHLOROPHYLL a: USE OF DIODE ARRAY HPLC, MASS SPECTROMETRY AND CHEMOMETRIC FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR THE DETECTION OF EARLY PRODUCTS

Abstract –The products of chlorophyll allomerization in methanol were isolated and analyzed by open column sucrose chromatography, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS) and DAD-HPLC (diode-array high-performance liquid chromatography). Four main bands were found with molecular ions of (a) 908, (b) 938, (c) 938 and (d) 938, consistent with the structures (a) 13²-hydroxy-chlorophyll a (II), (b) and (c) Mg(II)-3¹,3²-didehydro-15¹-hydroxy-15¹-methoxy-rhodochlorin-15 acetic acid δ-lactone 15²-methyl 17³-phytyl ester and its epimer (III) and (d) Mg(II)-3¹,3²-didehydro-rhodochlorin-15-glyoxylic acid 13¹,15²-dimethyl 17³-phytyl ester (IV), evidence enhanced by UV/visible spectroscopy, chromatographic coelutions and chemometrics. Chlorophyll a was degraded both in the dark and light, under O₂ and N². DAD-HPLC of the resultant degradation mixtures were analyzed using the chemometric heuristic-evolving latent projection method for resolution. Ultraviolet/visible spectra of II and III are reproducibly extracted from the mixtures after a short degradation time, whereas III and IV are the dominant compounds after longer degradation times. Changes in relative elution order of IV using open column chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC are established. A possible allomerization pathway is proposed.     

NMR study on the photoresponsive DNA tethering an azobenzene. Assignment of the absolute configuration of two diastereomers and structure determination of their duplexes in the trans-form

Two diastereomers of a photoresponsive oligodeoxyribonucleotide tethering a trans-azobenzene, based on the chirality of the central carbon of a diol linker, were separated by reversed-phase HPLC. On the basis of 2D NMR analysis, absolute configurations of the diastereomers alpha and beta (tentatively designated from differences in their retention time) were determined as R- and S-forms, respectively. For both diastereomers, their NMR-determined duplex structure showed that trans-azobenzene intercalates between base pairs, because distinct NOEs were observed between the protons of azobenzene and those of the adjacent base pairs, such as with the imino protons and methyl protons of thymine. The melting temperatures of both duplexes were higher than that of the corresponding native duplex, which contained no azobenzene residue, due to the intercalated trans-azobenzene stabilizing the duplex by a stacking interaction. Between these two diastereomers, differences in T(m) were also found: the melting temperature of the R-form duplex (alpha-isomer) was higher than that of the S-form (beta-isomer). On the basis of the NMR-determined structure, this difference was attributed to the fact that the S-form (beta isomer) causes more stress forming the duplex than does the R-form (alpha isomer) due to disturbances of the right-hand helix.     

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura couplings of potassium aryl trifluoroborates with 4-tosyloxycoumarins or 4-tosyloxyquinolin-2(1H)-one

Pd(PPh₃)₄ catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of 4-tosyloxycoumarins or 4-tosyloxyquinolin-2(1H)-one with various potassium aryl trifluoroborates afforded the corresponding 4-substituted coumarins or 4-substituted quinolin-2(1H)-ones in good to excellent yield.     

Prediction of soil organic carbon partition coefficients by soil column liquid chromatography

To avoid the limitation of the widely used prediction methods of soil organic carbon partition coefficients (KOC) from hydrophobic parameters, e.g., the n-octanol/water partition coefficients (KOW) and the reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) retention factors, the soil column liquid chromatographic (SCLC) method was developed for KOC prediction. The real soils were used as the packing materials of RP-HPLC columns, and the correlations between the retention factors of organic compounds on soil columns (ksoil) and KOC measured by batch equilibrium method were studied. Good correlations were achieved between ksoil and KOC for three types of soils with different properties. All the square of the correlation coefficients (R2) of the linear regression between log ksoil and log KOC were higher than 0.89 with standard deviations of less than 0.21. In addition, the prediction of KOC from KOW and the RP-HPLC retention factors on cyanopropyl (CN) stationary phase (kCN) was comparatively evaluated for the three types of soils. The results show that the prediction of KOC from kCN and KOW is only applicable to some specific types of soils. The results obtained in the present study proved that the SCLC method is appropriate for the KOC prediction for different types of soils, however the applicability of using hydrophobic parameters to predict KOC largely depends on the properties of soil concerned.     

Use of the tubulin bound paclitaxel conformation for structure-based rational drug design

A new computational docking protocol has been developed and used in combination with conformational information inferred from REDOR-NMR experiments on microtubule bound 2-(p-fluorobenzoyl)paclitaxel to delineate a unique tubulin binding structure of paclitaxel. A conformationally constrained macrocyclic taxoid bearing a linker between the C-14 and C-3'N positions has been designed and synthesized to enforce this "REDOR-taxol" conformation. The novel taxoid SB-T-2053 inhibits the growth of MCF-7 and LCC-6 human breast cancer cells (wild-type and drug resistant) on the same order of magnitude as paclitaxel. Moreover, SB-T-2053 induces in vitro tubulin polymerization at least as well as paclitaxel, which directly validates our drug design process. These results open a new avenue for drug design of next generation taxoids and other microtubule-stabilizing agents based on the refined structural information of drug-tubulin complexes, in accordance with typical enzyme-inhibitor medicinal chemistry precepts.