(1-Pyrenylmethyl)amino alcohols, a new class of antitumor DNA intercalators. Discovery and initial amine side chain structure-activity studies

Visible-Light-Induced C-H Bond Aminoalkylation of Heterocycles by the Decarboxylation Coupling of Amino Acids

An efficient visible-light-induced decarboxylative coupling reaction of N-protecting α-amino acids with heterocycles for the generation of aminoalkylated heterocycles is presented. A series of aminoalkylated heterocycles were obtained in moderate to good yields. Attractive features of this process include the generation of aminomethyl radical by an inexpensive organic photocatalyst under transition-metal-free conditions.

Iodane-Guided ortho C-H Allylation

A metal-free C-H allylation strategy is described to access diverse functionalized ortho-allyl-iodoarenes. The method employs hypervalent (diacetoxy)iodoarenes and proceeds through the iodane-guided "iodonio-Claisen" allyl transfer. The use of allylsilanes bearing electron-withdrawing functional groups unlocks the functionalization of a broad range of substrates, including electron-neutral and electron-poor rings. The resulting ortho-allylated iodoarenes are versatile building blocks, with examples of downstream transformation including a concise synthesis of the experimental antimitotic core of Dosabulin. DFT calculations shed additional light on the reaction mechanism, with notable aspects including the aromatic character of the transition-state structure for the [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement, as well as the highly stereoconvergent nature of the trans-product formation.

Exploring Orthogonal Hydrogen Bonding towards Designing Organic-Salt-Based Supramolecular Gelators: Synthesis, Structures, and Anticancer Properties

A series of primary ammonium monocarboxylate (PAM) salts derived from β-alanine derivatives of pyrene and naphthalene acetic acid, along with the parent acids, were explored to probe the plausible role of orthogonal hydrogen bonding resulting from amide⋅⋅⋅amide and PAM synthons on gelation. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD) studies were performed on two parent acids and five PAM salts in the series. The data revealed that orthogonal hydrogen bonding played an important role in gelation. Structure-property correlation based on SXRD and powder X-ray diffraction data also supported the working hypothesis upon which these gelators were designed. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and cell migration assay on a highly aggressive human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, revealed that one of the PAM salts in the series, namely, PAA.B2, displayed anticancer properties, and internalization of the gelator salt in the same cell line was confirmed by cell imaging.

Synthesis and fluorescence properties of dioxa-, dithia-, and diselena-[3.3](1,3)pyrenophanes

[3.3](1,3)Pyrenophanes tethered by oxygen (1), sulfur (2) and selenium (3) atoms were synthesized and the structural and physical properties of these substances were determined. The absorption maxima of the [3.3](1,3)pyrenophanes were observed to shift to longer wavelengths in the order of 1 < 2 < 3. The fluorescence spectra of 1-3 contained both monomer and intramolecular excimer emissions, which correspond to anti and syn conformers, respectively. The ratios of the intensities of intramolecular excimer to monomer emission were observed to increase with the increasing solvent polarity. The intensity ratios also depend on temperature. For example, an increase in temperature results in an increase of the ratio of intensities of the intramolecular excimer to monomer fluorescence of 2. The results of ¹H NMR spectroscopic investigations show that resonances for the methylene and aromatic hydrogens in these substances coalesce at low temperatures with coalescence temperatures (T_c) that decrease in the order of 1 > 2 > 3. The results of geometry optimization studies using B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) demonstrate that the syn conformers of 1-3 have lower enthalpies than their anti counterparts, but the syn conformer of 1 and the anti conformers of 2-3 are entropically more favorable. These findings suggest that an equilibrium exists between the syn and anti conformers of the [3.3](1,3)pyrenophanes and that the conformer ratios are dependent on both the solvent polarity and temperature in a manner that can be explained in terms of a combination of enthalpies, dipole moments and entropies. The combined results show that the pyrenophanes are interesting substances that emit different fluorescence colors in a manner that is controlled by the surrounding environment.

Mutagenicity of N-acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides as an indicator of DNA intercalation part 1: evidence for naphthalene as a DNA intercalator

N-Acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides are direct-acting mutagens in S. typhimurium TA100 with a linear dependence upon log P that maximises at log P0 = 6.4. Eight N-acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides (2-9) bearing a naphthalene group on any of the three side-chains and with log P0 < 6.4 have been demonstrated to be significantly and uniformly more mutagenic towards S. typhimurium TA100 than 50 mutagens without naphthalene. The activity enhancement of 2-9 is likely due to intercalative binding of naphthalene to bacterial DNA as a number are also active in TA98, a frame-shift strain of S. typhimurium, which is modified by intercalators. DNA damage profiles for naphthalene-bearing mutagens confirm enhanced reactivity with DNA when naphthalene is incorporated and a different binding mode when compared to mutagens without naphthalene. The effect is independent of whether the naphthalene is attached to an electron-donating alkyl or electron-withdrawing acyl group, alkyl tether length or, in the case of 6 and 7, the point of attachment to naphthalene. A new quantitative structure activity relationship has been constructed for all 58 congeners incorporating log P and an indicator variable, I, for the presence (I = 1) or absence (I = 0) of naphthalene and from which the activity enhancing effect of a naphthalene has been quantified at between three and four log P units. Contrary to conventional views, simple naphthalene groups could target molecules to DNA through intercalation.

Design, antiviral and cytostatic properties of isoxazolidine-containing amonafide analogues

A novel series of 5-arylcarbamoyl- and 5-arylmethyl-2-methylisoxazolidin-3-yl-3-phosphonates have been synthesized via cycloaddition of N-methyl-C-(diethoxyphosphoryl)nitrone with N-substituted naphthalimide acrylamides and N-allylnaphthalimides. All cis- and trans-isoxazolidine phosphonates obtained herein were assessed for antiviral activity against a broad range of DNA and RNA viruses. Isoxazolidines trans-9d and trans-9f exhibited the highest activity (EC₅₀ = 8.9 μM) toward cytomegalovirus. Compounds cis- and trans-9d as well as cis- and trans-9f were found potent against HSV and Vaccinia viruses (EC₅₀ in the 45–58 μM range), whereas isoxazolidines 10a and 10d suppressed replication of Coxsackie B4 and Punta Toro viruses (EC₅₀ in the 45–73 μM range). Antiproliferative evaluation of all obtained isoxazolidines revealed the promising activity of cis-9b, cis-9d, trans-9d, cis-9e, trans-9e, cis-9f and trans-9f toward tested cancer cell lines with IC₅₀ in the 1.1–19 μM range.

Rational approaches, design strategies, structure activity relationship and mechanistic insights for anticancer hybrids

A Hybrid drug which comprises the incorporation of two drug pharmacophores in one single molecule are basically designed to interact with multiple targets or to amplify its effect through action on another bio target as one single molecule or to counterbalance the known side effects associated with the other hybrid part(.) The present review article offers a detailed account of the design strategies employed for the synthesis of anticancer agents via molecular hybridization techniques. Over the years, the researchers have employed this technique to discover some promising chemical architectures displaying significant anticancer profiles. Molecular hybridization as a tool has been particularly utilized for targeting tubulin protein as exemplified through the number of research papers. The microtubule inhibitors such as taxol, colchicine, chalcones, combretasatin, phenstatins and vinca alkaloids have been utilized as one of the functionality of the hybrids and promising results have been obtained in most of the cases with some of the tubulin based hybrids exhibiting anticancer activity at nanomolar level. Linkage with steroids as biological carrier vector for anticancer drugs and the inclusion of pyrrolo [2,1-c] [1,4]benzodiazepines (PBDs), a family of DNA interactive antitumor antibiotics derived from Streptomyces species in hybrid structure based drug design has also emerged as a potential strategy. Various heteroaryl based hybrids in particular isatin and coumarins have also been designed and reported to posses' remarkable inhibitory potential. Apart from presenting the design strategies, the article also highlights the structure activity relationship along with mechanistic insights revealed during the biological evaluation of the hybrids.

Novel approaches to screening guanidine derivatives

INTRODUCTION

Compounds containing guanidine moiety, originating both from natural and synthetic sources, have found potential applications in both synthetic and medicinal chemistry. Indeed, guanidine functionality can be found in many natural and pharmaceutical products as well as in cosmetic ingredients produced by synthetic methods.

AREAS COVERED

This review covers the latest developments in the research undertaken for the therapeutic application of newly synthesized guanidine derivatives including: small peptides and peptidomimetics. This article encompasses the selected literature published in the last three decades with a focus on the novel approaches for screening of lead drug candidates with their pharmacological action.

EXPERT OPINION

Guanidines, as they are both organically based and also hydrophilic in nature, have undergone a mammoth amount of screening and testing to discover promising lead structures with a CN3 core, appropriate for potential future drug development. The compounds have the potential to be neurodegenerative therapeutic options, as well as: anti-inflammatory, anti-protozoal, anti-HIV, chemotherapeutic, anti-diabetic agents and so on. It is true that guanidine-based compounds of natural sources also, like synthetic and virtually designed drugs, have been of significant interest and have the potential to be useful therapeutic options in the future. As for now, however, there is not sufficient data to support their use in a number of the suggested areas, and further studies are required.

Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of potassium Boc-protected aminomethyltrifluoroborate with aryl and hetaryl mesylates

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions were studied with potassium Boc-protected aminomethyltrifluoroborate through C-O activation of various mesylate derivatives to afford the corresponding products in moderate to good yields.

Design, synthesis, and antiviral evaluation of purine-β-lactam and purine-aminopropanol hybrids

Purine-β-lactam chimera were prepared as a novel class of hybrid systems through N-alkylation of 6-benzylamino- or 6-benzyloxypurine with (ω-haloalkyl)-β-lactams, followed by reductive ring opening of the β-lactam ring by LiEt(3)BH to provide an entry into the class of purine-aminopropanol hybrids. Both new types of hybrid systems were assessed for their antiviral activity and cytotoxicity, resulting in the identification of eight purine-β-lactam hybrids and two purine-aminopropanol hybrids as promising lead structures.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds as anticancer agents: Evaluation of synthesis and in vitro cytotoxicity

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered to be significant environmental carcinogens. Additionally, various planar ring systems are capable of intercalating with DNA, leading to a number of drugs that possess chemotherapeutic activity. In this study, three new polyaromatic compounds with a side chain were synthesized, and spectroscopic as well as elemental analyses were performed. The addition of the long chains to either chrysene or pyrene caused a red-shift in the spectral emission when compared to the corresponding polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons itself. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of the three novel polyaromatic compounds was evaluated in vitro in a panel of cultured mammalian cell lines. The pyrenyl ether demonstrated better cytotoxicity compared to cisplatin against colon (HT-29) as well as cervical (HeLa) cancer cell lines. In conclusion, three new compounds were synthesized and investigated in this study. This novel method is likely to play a role in other areas of research.

High-affinity DNA targeting using readily accessible mimics of N2'-functionalized 2'-amino-α-L-LNA

N2'-Pyrene-functionalized 2'-amino-α-L-LNAs (locked nucleic acids) display extraordinary affinity toward complementary DNA targets due to favorable preorganization of the pyrene moieties for hybridization-induced intercalation. Unfortunately, the synthesis of these monomers is challenging (~20 steps, <3% overall yield), which has precluded full characterization of DNA-targeting applications based on these materials. Access to more readily accessible functional mimics would be highly desirable. Here we describe short synthetic routes to a series of O2'-intercalator-functionalized uridine and N2'-intercalator-functionalized 2'-N-methyl-2'-aminouridine monomers and demonstrate, via thermal denaturation, UV-vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy experiments, that several of them mimic the DNA-hybridization properties of N2'-pyrene-functionalized 2'-amino-α-L-LNAs. For example, oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ONs) modified with 2'-O-(coronen-1-yl)methyluridine monomer Z, 2'-O-(pyren-1-yl)methyluridine monomer Y, or 2'-N-(pyren-1-ylmethyl)-2'-N-methylaminouridine monomer Q display prominent increases in thermal affinity toward complementary DNA relative to reference strands (average ΔT(m)/mod up to +12 °C), pronounced DNA-selectivity, and higher target specificity than 2'-amino-α-L-LNA benchmark probes. In contrast, ONs modified with 2'-O-(2-napthyl)uridine monomer W, 2'-O-(pyren-1-yl)uridine monomer X or 2'-N-(pyren-1-ylcarbonyl)-2'-N-methylaminouridine monomer S display very low affinity toward DNA targets. This demonstrates that even conservative alterations in linker chemistry, linker length, and surface area of the appended intercalators have marked impact on DNA-hybridization characteristics. Straightforward access to high-affinity building blocks such as Q, Y, and Z is likely to accelerate their use in DNA-targeting applications within nucleic acid based diagnostics, therapeutics, and material science.

Synthesis and Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of potassium Boc-protected aminomethyltrifluoroborate with aryl and hetaryl halides

Potassium Boc-protected aminomethyltrifluoroborate, a primary aminomethyl equivalent, was synthesized successfully through a "one-pot" process. With this trifluoroborate, Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions were investigated with a variety of both aryl and hetaryl chlorides in good to excellent yields.

Interaction of DNA and a series of aromatic donor-viologen acceptor molecules with and without the presence of CB[8]

A series of 1-ethyl-1'-arylmethyl-4,4'-bipyridinium compounds is synthesized, where the aryl is phenyl (BEV), 2-naphthyl (NEV), 2-anthracenyl (AEV) or 1-pyrenyl (PEV). Among them, PEV and AEV can bind with calf thymus DNA mainly through intercalation and groove-binding modes, and both of them can be observed to photocleave plasmid pBR 322 DNA significantly under irradiation with a xenon arc lamp. After inclusion of cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]), all of the aromatic donor-viologen acceptor compounds exhibit efficient DNA photocleavage ability. The reason is that CB[8] can inhibit the intramolecular backwards electron transfer in the aromatic donor-viologen acceptor molecule, prolonging the lifetime of the charge separated excited state to some extent. These studies bring a new subject in DNA photocleavage research and a potential application of the host-guest supramolecular system.

Synthesis and antitumour activity of pyrene-linked pyrrolo [2,1-c]benzodiazepine hybrids

Pyrene-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine hybrids have been synthesized that exhibit potential anticancer activity in a number of human tumour cell lines. These hybrids also exhibit much enhanced DNA-binding ability in comparison to the parent pyrrolobenzodiazepine ring system (DC-81).

Design and synthesis of novel chrysene-linked pyrrolo[2,1- c ][1,4]-benzodiazepine hybrids as potential DNA-binding agents

Chrysene-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine hybrids have been prepared that possess cytotoxicity in some cancer cell lines. They also exhibit promising DNA-binding affinity and this is supported by molecular modeling studies.

Intercalating nucleic acids containing insertions of 1-O-(1-pyrenylmethyl)glycerol: stabilisation of dsDNA and discrimination of DNA over RNA

We have studied hybridisation affinities and fluorescence behaviour of intercalator-modified oligonucleotides. The phosphoramidite of (S)-1-O-(4, 4'-dimethoxytriphenylmethyl)-3-O-(1-pyrenylmethyl)glycerol, an intercalating pseudo-nucleotide (IPN), was synthesised and by standard methods inserted into 7mer and 13mer oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs) to generate intercalating nucleic acids (INAs). INAs showed greatly increased affinity for complementary single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), as determined by a thermal stabilisation of the formed DNA/INA duplex of up to 10.9 degrees C per modification when the IPN was added as a dangling end and up to 6.7 degrees C per modification when the IPN was inserted as a bulge. There was a positive stabilisation effect of the formed DNA/INA duplex on introducing a second IPN in the INA strand, when the two IPNs were separated by at least 1 bp. The effect is more pronounced the larger the separation of the two IPNs. Contrary to the enhanced affinity for ssDNA, the IPNs lower the affinity for complementary single-stranded RNA (ssRNA), giving rise to a difference in melting temperature of up to 25.8 degrees C for two IPN insertions in an RNA/INA duplex when compared with the corresponding DNA/INA duplex. In this way INA is able to discriminate ssDNA over ssRNA with identical sequences. Fluorescence measurements show a stronger interaction of the pyrene moiety with DNA than with RNA, indicating intercalation as the stabilising factor in DNA/INA duplexes.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds as anticancer agents: structure-activity relationships of chrysene and pyrene derivatives

A large number of diamides and diamines were synthesized using 6-amino chrysene and 1-amino pyrene as starting materials. A structure activity study with cis-platinum as internal control against animal and human tumor lines was carried out in vitro. This study indicated that the in vitro cytotoxicity toward these lines depends on the functionality present in the molecules. The diamino compounds were found to be more potent than the diamides, and these were equally active irrespective of the end heterocyclic group, whereas the activity of the diamides was strongly dependent on the terminal unit. In general, the diamides containing chrysene as the chromophore were more active than those with a pyrene ring. The size of the end heterocyclic ring, along with the nature of the spacer connecting the polycyclic ring to the heterocyclic ring, seemed to affect the biological activity in certain cell lines. Hemolysis experiments on a lead compound established that it had activities similar to those described for membrane-stabilizing agents. This agent also demonstrated the capacity to produce differentiation in leukemia cell lines.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds as anticancer agents: synthesis and biological evaluation of some chrysene derivatives

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new chrysene derivatives aimed at the development of anticancer agents were carried out.