Bimetallic Iron–Palladium Catalyst System as a Lewis-Acid for the Synthesis of Novel Pharmacophores Based Indole Scaffold as Anticancer Agents

The Friedel–Crafts reaction between substituted indoles as nucleophiles with chalcones-based benzofuran and benzothiophene scaffolds was carried out by employing a highly efficient bimetallic iron–palladium catalyst system. This catalytic approach produced the desired bis-heteroaryl products with low catalyst loading, a simple procedure, and with acceptable yield. All synthesized indole scaffolds 3a–3s were initially evaluated for their cytotoxic effect against human fibroblast BJ cell lines and appeared to be non-cytotoxic. All non-cytotoxic compounds 3a–3s were then evaluated for their anticancer activities against cervical cancer HeLa, prostate cancer PC3, and breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines, in comparison to standard drug doxorubicin, with IC₅₀ values 1.9 ± 0.4 µM, 0.9 ± 0.14 µM and 0.79 ± 0.05 µM, respectively, and appeared to be moderate to weak anticancer agents. Fluoro-substituted chalcone moiety-containing compounds, 3b appeared to be the most active member of the series against cervical HeLa (IC₅₀ = 8.2 ± 0.2 µM) and breast MCF-7 cancer cell line (IC₅₀ = 12.3 ± 0.04 µM), whereas 6-fluroindol-4-bromophenyl chalcone-containing compound 3e (IC₅₀ = 7.8 ± 0.4 µM) appeared to be more active against PC3 prostate cancer cell line.     

Synergistic Effect of Boron Nitride and Carbon Domains in Boron Carbide Nitride Nanotube Supported Single-Atom Catalysts for Efficient Nitrogen Fixation

Developing the low-cost and efficient single-atom catalysts (SACs) for nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is of great importance while remains as a great challenge. The catalytic activity, selectivity and durability are all fundamentally related to the elaborate coordination environment of SACs. Using first-principles calculations, we investigated the SACs with single transition metal (TM) atom supported on defective boron carbide nitride nanotubes (BCNTs) as NRR electrocatalysts. Our results suggest that boron-vacancy defects on BCNTs can strongly immobilize TM atoms with large enough binding energy and high thermal/structural stability. Importantly, the synergistic effect of boron nitride (BN) and carbon domains comes up with the modifications of the charge polarization of single-TM-atom active site and the electronic properties of material, which has been proven to be the essential key to promote N₂ adsorption, activation, and reduction. Specifically, six SACs (namely V, Mn, Fe, Mo, Ru, and W atoms embedded into defective BCNTs) can be used as promising candidates for NRR electrocatalysts as their NRR activity is higher than the state-of-the art Ru(0001) catalyst. In particular, single Mo atom supported on defective BCNTs with large tube diameter possesses the highest NRR activity while suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction, with a low limiting potential of −0.62 V via associative distal path. This work suggests new opportunities for driving NH₃ production by carbon-based single-atom electrocatalysts under ambient conditions.     

Infrared Responsive Choline Phosphate Lipids for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

Choline phosphate lipids have been designed and developed as new-generation zwitterionic nanocarriers with excellent biocompatibility and bioorthogonality to provide a more programmable performance for cancer therapy. However, there is a lack of spatiotemporal and reversible control for drug release at target tumor cells, which can lead to severe adverse effects to normal tissue and discounted treatment outcome. Here, light-inducible Lip-cRGDfk/ICG/Dox liposomes were developed for synergistic cancer therapy. ICG can effectively convert light energy into selective heating in a local environment upon laser irradiation, thus inducing thermal ablation of tumor cells, and further reversibly trigger the spatiotemporal release of anticancer drugs (Dox) at tumor cells due to the conformation transformation of CP lipids to synergistically kill tumor cells. That Lip-cRGDfk/ICG/Dox exhibited a significant improvement for breast cancer therapy in vitro and in vivo is also demonstrated, thus it can serve as an efficient platform to noninvasively and spatiotemporally control the activation of cytotoxicity at tumor cells for precision cancer therapy.     

1,9—双（1′—苯基—3′—甲基—5′—氧代吡唑—4′—基）壬二酮—（1,9）与三？…

研究了１，９－双（１′－苯基－３′－甲基－５′－氧代吡唑－４′－基）壬二酮－（１，９）（ＢＰＭＰＮＤ，Ｈ２Ａ）与三辛基氧膦（ＴＯＰＯ，Ｂ）的氯仿溶液，从硝酸介质中对Ｌａ（Ⅲ），Ｄｙ（Ⅲ）的协同萃取，计算了体系的酸性协萃系数ＲＡ和协萃系数Ｒ，用斜率法测得协萃合物的组成ＬａＡ．ＨＡ．Ｂ和ＤｙＡ．ＨＡ．Ｂ计算了协萃取平衡常数，研究了温度对协萃反应的影响，用萃取法制得了固态协萃合物，并对其组成，ＩＲ及ＴＧ     

A Novel N-Tert-Butyl Derivatives of Pseudothiohydantoin as Potential Target in Anti-Cancer Therapy

Tumors are currently more and more common all over the world; hence, attempts are being made to explain the biochemical processes underlying their development. The search for new therapeutic pathways, with particular emphasis on enzymatic activity and its modulation regulating the level of glucocorticosteroids, may contribute to the development and implementation of new therapeutic options in the treatment process. Our research focuses on understanding the role of 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2 as factors involved in the differentiation and proliferation of neoplastic cells. In this work, we obtained the 9 novel N-tert-butyl substituted 2-aminothiazol-4(5H)-one (pseudothiohydantoin) derivatives, differing in the substituents at C-5 of the thiazole ring. The inhibitory activity and selectivity of the obtained derivatives in relation to two isoforms of 11β-HSD were evaluated. The highest inhibitory activity for 11β-HSD1 showed compound 3h, containing the cyclohexane substituent at the 5-position of the thiazole ring in the spiro system (82.5% at a conc. 10 µM). On the other hand, the derivative 3f with the phenyl substituent at C-5 showed the highest inhibition of 11β-HSD2 (53.57% at a conc. of 10 µM). A low selectivity in the inhibition of 11β-HSD2 was observed but, unlike 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid, these compounds were found to inhibit the activity of 11β-HSD2 to a greater extent than 11β-HSD1, which makes them attractive for further research on their anti-cancer activity.     

Sweet Cherries as Anti-Cancer Agents: From Bioactive Compounds to Function

Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) are among the most appreciated fruits worldwide because of their organoleptic properties and nutritional value. The accurate phytochemical composition and nutritional value of sweet cherries depends on the climatic region, cultivar, and bioaccessibility and bioavailability of specific compounds. Nevertheless, sweet cherry extracts are highly enriched in several phenolic compounds with relevant bioactivity. Over the years, technological advances in chemical analysis and fields as varied as proteomics, genomics and bioinformatics, have allowed the detailed characterization of the sweet cherry bioactive phytonutrients and their biological function. In this context, the effect of sweet cherries on suppressing important events in the carcinogenic process, such as oxidative stress and inflammation, was widely documented. Interestingly, results from our research group and others have widened the action of sweet cherries to many hallmarks of cancer, namely metabolic reprogramming. The present review discusses the anticarcinogenic potential of sweet cherries by addressing their phytochemical composition, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of specific bioactive compounds, and the existing knowledge concerning the effects against oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, deregulated cell proliferation and apoptosis, invasion and metastization, and metabolic alterations. Globally, this review highlights the prospective use of sweet cherries as a dietary supplement or in cancer treatment.     

Phytochemicals from Polyalthia Species: Potential and Implication on Anti-Oxidant,Anti-Inflammatory,Anti-Cancer,and Chemoprevention Activities

Polyalthia belong to the Annonaceae family and are a type of evergreen tree distributed across many tropical and subtropical regions. Polyalthia species have been used long term as indigenous medicine to treat certain diseases, including fever, diabetes, infection, digestive disease, etc. Recent studies have demonstrated that not only crude extracts but also the isolated pure compounds exhibit various pharmacological activities, such as anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-tumor, anti-cancer, etc. It is known that the initiation of cancer usually takes several years and is related to unhealthy lifestyle, as well as dietary and environmental factors, such as stress, toxins and smoking. In fact, natural or synthetic substances have been used as cancer chemoprevention to delay, impede, or even stop cancer growing. This review is an attempt to collect current available phytochemicals from Polyalthia species, which exhibit anti-cancer potentials for chemoprevention purposes, providing directions for further research on the interesting agents and possible clinical applications.     

微量元素锡与健康

随着经济的发展，锡及其化合物越来越多地用于现代生活。综述了锡对人体健康的影响，包括：锡的性质、存在，环境污染、抗癌作用以及毒性等方面。     

一个新的铀（Ⅵ）三元协萃体系

研究了由４，４＇－癸二酰－双－（１－苯基－３－甲基－５－吡唑啉酮）（ＤＢＰＭＰ，简作Ｈ２Ａ），氧化三辛基膦（ＴＯＰＯ），吡啶（Ｐｙ）组成的三元体系从硝酸溶液中对铀的协同萃取，斜率法确定萃合物组成为ＵＯ２Ａ．ＴＯＰＯ．Ｐｙ，制取了固体协萃配合物，并用元素分析、ＩＲ及ＨＮＭＲ等进行了表征。     

微波-超声波协同一步提取衍生化-气相色谱-质谱联用快速分析中药材猫爪草中的脂肪酸

建立了一种微波-超声波协同一步提取衍生化、气相色谱-质谱联用快速测定中药材猫爪草中低含量脂肪酸的方法。以总脂肪酸的色谱峰面积为响应指标,采用响应曲面法优化了主要工艺参数,其结果为: 猫爪草粉末5.0 g,正己烷50.0 mL,微波功率500 W,反应温度50 ℃,催化剂用量0.30 g,甲醇用量4.0 mL,提取衍生化时间8 min。以内标法定量各个脂肪酸的含量,一步提取衍生化法获得的总脂肪酸峰面积((3.327±0.023)×107, n=3)和总不饱和脂肪酸含量((13.59±0.30) mg/g, n=3)明显高于传统方法((2.410±0.036)×107(n=3)和(12.05±0.34) mg/g(n=3))。该方法简化了复杂的样品处理过程,缩短了反应时间,降低了分析成本,改善了提取和衍生化效率,尤其是减少了不饱和脂肪酸的氧化和分解。该方法具有简单、快速和实用性的特点,是一种极具应用潜力的中药材中低含量脂肪酸的快速分析方法。