(±)-Evodiakine, A Pair of Rearranged Rutaecarpine-Type Alkaloids From Evodia rutaecarpa

Traditional Chinese medicine Euodiae Fructus: botany, traditional use, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and quality control

Euodiae Fructus, referred to as "Wuzhuyu" in Chinese, has been used as local and traditional herbal medicines in many regions, especially in China, Japan and Korea, for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, headache, emesis, aphtha, dermatophytosis, dysentery, etc. Substantial investigations into their chemical and pharmacological properties have been performed. Recently, interest in this plant has been focused on the different structural types of alkaloids like evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine and 1-methyl-2-undecyl-4(1H)-quinolone, which exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities in preclinical models, such as anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cardiovascular disease, etc. This review summarizes the up-to-date and comprehensive information concerning the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology of Euodiae Fructus together with the toxicology and quality control, and discusses the possible direction and scope for future research on this plant.

Naming of new natural products: Standard, pitfalls and tips-and-tricks

Naming a newly discovered natural product (NP) is a pleasant but difficult exercise. In most cases, the NP name will be given with reference to the species of origin, be it a plant, a marine organism, a mammalian or microbial species. For a long time, the use of biologically-based trivial names has been recommended to identify the parental linkage between the product and the originating genus or species. But the recommendation is not always followed and a multiplicity of trivial names have been attributed to NP, based on locations (country, region, city), foods, music, animals, forenames, etc. Tips-and-tricks associated with the naming of NP are underlined here. Usually, NP are differentiated across a homogeneous chemical series with a letter (from the Latin or Greek alphabet), followed or not with a number. In other cases, the change of a single letter distinguishes a series of NP. Common pitfalls associated with the naming of NP are enumerated, including the complexity of names, use of synonyms, duplicated names, confusing names and inappropriate terminology. The difficulties regularly encountered with the naming of NP are discussed. Four essential recommendations are recalled: (i) a thorough analysis of the existing products to avoid duplicated names and confusion, (ii) the use of a biologically-based trivial name to retrace the origin of the product, (iii) the strict adherence to the codes of chemical nomenclature, and (iv) the preference for simple names to facilitate transmission. Naming a new NP is a rewarding task, which shall be performed with all due skill, care and diligence.

Natural Enantiomers: Occurrence, Biogenesis and Biological Properties

The knowledge that natural products (NPs) are potent and selective modulators of important biomacromolecules (e.g., DNA and proteins) has inspired some of the world’s most successful pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Notwithstanding these successes and despite a growing number of reports on naturally occurring pairs of enantiomers, this area of NP science still remains largely unexplored, consistent with the adage “If you don’t seek, you don’t find”. Statistically, a rapidly growing number of enantiomeric NPs have been reported in the last several years. The current review provides a comprehensive overview of recent records on natural enantiomers, with the aim of advancing awareness and providing a better understanding of the chemical diversity and biogenetic context, as well as the biological properties and therapeutic (drug discovery) potential, of enantiomeric NPs.

New Secodaphnane-Type Alkaloids with Cytotoxic Activities from Daphniphyllum angustifolium Hutch

One new Daphniphyllum alkaloid, daphnioldhanol A (1), together with three known ones, were isolated from the stem part of Daphniphyllum angustifolium Hutch. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and comparing with the literature data. Compound 2 is a new natural product, but known by synthesis as a racemate. Compound 1 exhibited week cytotoxic activity against Hela cell line with IC₅₀ of 31.9 μM.

Traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicology of the fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The fruit of Tetradium ruticarpum (FTR) known as Tetradii fructus or Evodiae fructus (Wu-Zhu-Yu in Chinese) is a versatile herbal medicine which has been prescribed in Chinese herbal formulas and recognized in Japanese Kampo. FTR has been clinically used to treat various diseases such as headache, vomit, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dysmenorrhea and pelvic inflammation for thousands of years.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

The present paper aimed to provide comprehensive information on the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug interaction and toxicology of FTR in order to build up a foundation on the mechanism of ethnopharmacological uses as well as to explore the trends and perspectives for further studies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This review collected the literatures published prior to July 2020 on the phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicity of FTR. All relevant information on FTR was gathered from worldwide accepted scientific search engines and databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Elsevier, ACS, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Information was also obtained from local books, PhD. and MSc. Dissertations as well as from Pharmacopeias.

RESULTS

FTR has been used as an herbal medicine for centuries in East Asia. A total of 165 chemical compounds have been isolated so far and the main chemical compounds of FTR include alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, steroids, and phenylpropanoids. Crude extracts, processed products (medicinal slices) and pure components of FTR exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-obesity, antioxidant, insecticide, regulating central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis, cardiovascular protection. Furthermore, bioactive components isolated from FTR can induce drug interaction and hepatic injury.

CONCLUSIONS

Therapeutic potential of FTR has been demonstrated with the pharmacological effects on cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, CNS, bacterial infection and obesity. Pharmacological and pharmacokinetic studies of FTR mostly focus on its main active alkaloids. Further in-depth studies on combined medication and processing approaches mechanisms, pharmacological and toxic effects not limited to the alkaloids, and toxic components of FTR should be designed.

Facile access to evodiakine enabled by aerobic copper-catalyzed oxidative rearrangement

Oxidation as a fundamentally important method for the synthesis of complex structures is difficult to achieve in a selective manner. Evodiakine, a complex natural product possessing an unprecedented ring system (6/5/5/7/6), has a high oxidation state without a practical solution. Herein, we report the first synthesis of evodiakine via aerobic copper-catalyzed late-stage functionalization of evodiamine.

Catalyst-free cyclization of anthranils and cyclic amines: one-step synthesis of rutaecarpine

An efficient synthesis of a variety of quinazolinone derivatives via a direct cyclization reaction between commercially available anthranils and cyclic amines is described. The developed transformation proceeds with the merits of high step- and atom-efficiency, a broad substrate scope, and good to excellent yields, without additional catalysts, and offers a practical way for the preparation of rutaecarpine and its derivatives with structural diversity.

MiR-92b targets p57kip2 to modulate the resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to ionizing radiation (IR) -based radiotherapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common digestive system malignant tumors. Due to the resistance to radiotherapy, the prognosis in patients with HCC is poor. Based on previous studies and online tools prediction, we hypothesized that miR-92b, which was reported to promote HCC cell proliferation, might bind to p57kip2, a well-known tumor suppressor, to modulate the radioresistance of HCC to ionizing radiation (IR) -based radiotherapy. In the present study, a higher miR-92b expression in HCC tissues and cell lines was observed; a high miR-92b expression was correlated with poorer prognosis in patients with HCC. The overexpression of miR-92b enhanced the radioresistance of HCC to IR treatment by promoting cancer cell proliferation, attenuating cell apoptosis and remove IR-induced cell cycle at G2/M phase. Through directly binding to the 3'-UTR of p57kip2, miR-92b negatively regulated the protein levels of p57kip2; miR-92b inhibition enhanced the cell effect of IR on HCC cells, which could be attenuated by the p57kip2 knockdown, in other words, miR-92b modulated the radioresistance of HCC to IR-based radiotherapy through p57kip2. Taken together, miR-92b inhibits p57kip2 expression in HCC tissues and cell lines, thus enhancing the radioresistance of HCC to IR-based radiotherapy; targeting miR-92b to rescue p57kip2 expression in HCC might help sensitive HCC cells to IR-based radiotherapy.

Pharmaceutical prospects of naturally occurring quinazolinone and its derivatives

Quinazolinones belong to a family of heterocyclic nitrogen compounds that have attracted increasing interest because of their broad spectrum of biological functions. This review describes three types of natural quinazolinones and their synthesized derivatives and summarizes their various pharmacological activities, including antifungal, anti-tumor, anti-malaria, anticonvulsant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and antihyperlipidemic activities. In addition, structure-activity relationships of quinazolinone derivatives are also reviewed.