New pyrimido[5,4-e]pyrrolo[1,2-c]pyrimidines: Synthesis, 2D-QSAR, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and ulcerogenicity studies

Design and Development of COX-II Inhibitors: Current Scenario and Future Perspective

Innate inflammation beyond a threshold is a significant problem involved in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and many other chronic conditions. Cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes are key inflammatory markers as they catalyze prostaglandins production and are crucial for inflammation processes. While COX-I is constitutively expressed and is generally involved in "housekeeping" roles, the expression of the COX-II isoform is induced by the stimulation of different inflammatory cytokines and also promotes the further generation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which affect the prognosis of various diseases. Hence, COX-II is considered an important therapeutic target for drug development against inflammation-related illnesses. Several selective COX-II inhibitors with safe gastric safety profiles features that do not cause gastrointestinal complications associated with classic anti-inflammatory drugs have been developed. Nevertheless, there is mounting evidence of cardiovascular side effects from COX-II inhibitors that resulted in the withdrawal of market-approved anti-COX-II drugs. This necessitates the development of COX-II inhibitors that not only exhibit inhibit potency but also are free of side effects. Probing the scaffold diversity of known inhibitors is vital to achieving this goal. A systematic review and discussion on the scaffold diversity of COX inhibitors are still limited. To address this gap, herein we present an overview of chemical structures and inhibitory activity of different scaffolds of known COX-II inhibitors. The insights from this article could be helpful in seeding the development of next-generation COX-II inhibitors.

Recent Advancement in Drug Design and Discovery of Pyrazole Biomolecules as Cancer and Inflammation Therapeutics

Pyrazole, an important pharmacophore and a privileged scaffold of immense significance, is a five-membered heterocyclic moiety with an extensive therapeutic profile, viz., anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-anxiety, anticancer, analgesic, antipyretic, etc. Due to the expansion of pyrazolecent red pharmacological molecules at a quicker pace, there is an urgent need to put emphasis on recent literature with hitherto available information to recognize the status of this scaffold for pharmaceutical research. The reported potential pyrazole-containing compounds are highlighted in the manuscript for the treatment of cancer and inflammation, and the results are mentioned in % inhibition of inflammation, % growth inhibition, IC50, etc. Pyrazole is an important heterocyclic moiety with a strong pharmacological profile, which may act as an important pharmacophore for the drug discovery process. In the struggle to cultivate suitable anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents, chemists have now focused on pyrazole biomolecules. This review conceals the recent expansion of pyrazole biomolecules as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents with an aim to provide better correlation among different research going around the world.

A Combined QSAR and Molecular Docking Approach for Identifying Pyrimidine Derivatives as Penicillin Binding Protein Inhibitors

Background:

Antimicrobial resistance has been rising continuously in the past few years due to the overuse and exploitation of existing antimicrobials. This has motivated the search for a novel scaffold that has the capability of rapid antimicrobial action. The hybridized pyrimidines have attracted us due to their widespread biological activities, such as anti-bacterial and antifungal activities.

Objective:

The present study incorporates a series of pyrimidine-based antimicrobial agents for the 2D quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis (2D QSAR) and docking analysis.

Methods:

The exploration of the chemical structures in combination with the biological activity in CPMLR led to the detection of six descriptors (Constitutional descriptors, Topological descriptors, Modified Burden Eigenvalues and 2D autocorrelations) for modeling the activity. The resulted QSAR model has been validated using combinatorial protocol in multiple linear regression (CP-MLR) and partial least squares (PLS) analysis.

Methods:

The exploration of the chemical structures in combination with the biological activity in CPMLR led to the detection of six descriptors (Constitutional descriptors, Topological descriptors, Modified Burden Eigenvalues and 2D autocorrelations) for modeling the activity. The resulted QSAR model has been validated using a combinatorial protocol in multiple linear regression (CP-MLR) and partial least squares (PLS) analysis.

Results:

The best QSAR model displays the r2 t value of 0.594, Q2 LOO value of 0.779, Q2 L5O value of 0.767. Further docking study was executed using Autodock Vina against Penicillin-binding protein (PBP2a).

Conclusion:

From the results, Compounds 4, 11and 24 were found to possess a good binding affinity towards PBP2a.

Potential opportunities of thinned clusters in viticulture: a mini review

Crop thinning is a common practice performed in the vineyard consisting of whole clusters or individual fruits being removed after flowering is attained. Current studies have reported that unripe grape products as verjuice and sour grape sauce contain high content of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, sugars, organic acids, nitrogenous compounds and sterols. This mini-review overviewed the bioactive components obtained from thinned unripe grapes such as phenolic compounds, sugars, organic acids, minerals, nitrogen compounds and sterols, and their use as antibrowning and whitening agents, natural catalysts, food preservative and food additive. In addition, their beneficial effects for human health also were reviewed, as well as the practices to maximize the extraction of antioxidant compounds. Therefore, revalorizing the waste from this management practice in viticulture can increase the vineyard sustainability and farmers' economic profits. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Synthesis, Anti-Inflammatory Activity and Molecular Docking Studies of 1,4,5,6-Tetrahydropyrimidine-2-Carboxamides

Background: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most commonly used drugs in the world. The widespread use of NSAIDs is associated with a number of serious side effects and complications observed for both selective and non-selective COX inhibitors. Therefore, the search for new COX inhibitors, which along with their effectiveness will have minimal side effects, is a very important and urgent task. Methods: This work studied the synthesis of new 1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-2-carboxamides based on the reaction of 2-morpholin-4-yl-N-(het)aryl-2-thioxoacetamides with 1,3-diaminopropane. All obtained compounds were tested for anti-inflammatory activity in vitro and in silico conditions. All synthesized 1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-2-carboxamides were tested for influence on the course of the exudative phase of the inflammatory process based on the carrageenan model of paw edema of laboratory nonlinear heterosexual white rats weighing 220-250 g, using Diclofenac as a reference. Optimization of the geometry of the studied structures and molecular docking was carried out using the ArgusLab 4.0.1 software package. Results: The target products were obtained with yields of 71-98% and easily isolated from the reaction mixture. The best anti-inflammatory activity was found in N-(4-chlorophenyl)-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-2-carboxamide and in N-[4-chloro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine-2-carboxamide, suppression of the inflammatory response was 46.7 and 46.4%, respectively. The results of molecular docking with COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes were in good agreement with the experimental data, R2 ˃ 0.92 and R2 ˃ 0.83, respectively. Conclusion: The compounds under study were shown to be promising as potential anti-inflammatory agents.

A QSAR Study for Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Activities of 5-/6-Acyl-3-alkyl-2-Benzoxazolinone Derivatives

In this publication, QSAR models were developed to predict analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of some 2-benzoxazolinone derivatives using multiple linear regression method. The models were validated internally and externally according to the OECD principles. With the help of these models, pronounced molecular properties of these compounds related to activities were also explored. The developed models demonstrated that hydrophobicity, the number of halogens, and the shape of the molecular structure of these candidate drugs are prominent to represent analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. Based on the previously tested compounds and the developed models, 77 new compounds were designed as potential analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs. Majority of the newly designed compounds demonstrated promising analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity.