Nitrogen-bridgehead compounds: overview, synthesis, and outlook on applications

The nitrogen-bridgehead is a common structural motif present in a multitude of natural products. As many of these abundant compounds exhibit biological activities, e.g. against cancer or bacteria, these derivatives are of high interest. While natural products are often associated with problematic characteristics, such as elaborate separation processes, high molecular complexity and limited room for derivatization, purely synthetic approaches can overcome these challenges. Many synthetic procedures have been reported for preparation of artificial nitrogen bridgehead compounds, however, to our surprise only a fraction of these has been tested for their bioactivity. This review is therefore meant to give an overview of existing synthetic methods that provide scaffolds containing bridgehead nitrogen atoms, covering the period from 2000 to 2023. Reviews which cover subunits of this topic are referenced as well.

Design, synthesis, antimicrobial, antibiofilm evaluation and Z/E-isomerization of novel 6-((arylamino)methylene)benzo[a] phenazin-5(6H)-ones induced by organic solvent

New 6-((arylamino)methylene)benzo[a]phenazin-5(6H)-one derivatives were synthesized, and good-to-high yields were achieved through one-pot, four-component condensation of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 1,2-phenylenediamine, aromatic amines and triethyl orthoformate using formic acid as catalyst under solvent-free conditions at 90 °C. The structure of these new compounds was confirmed using FT-IR and 1H-NMR as well as MS spectroscopy. Investigation of spectroscopy data indicated that the synthesized compounds exist in the keto-enamine tautomeric form and undergo Z/E-isomerization around the C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bond in DMSO-d6 at room temperature. Furthermore, intramolecular hydrogen bond has been observed in the synthesized E- and Z-ketoenamines. The noticeable features of the present procedure availability of starting materials, very simple operation, easy work-up, short reaction times, good to high yields and no need for column chromatography separation of benzophenazine enamines. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antibacterial, antifungal and antibiofilm activities against some of the tested microorganisms. The results demonstrated that compound 6b showed the maximum antibacterial activity, 6d exhibited the maximum antifungal activity and 6b had the most efficiency to inhibit biofilm formation of Bacillus subtilis (80%) at 200 μg mL-1 concentration.

Phthalic anhydride (PA): a valuable substrate in organic transformations

This review has been centralized on applications of phthalic anhydride (PA) as a valuable and significant heterocyclic substrate in two- and multicomponent organic reactions. The article has been subdivided into the following parts: (i) PA introduction by focusing on its characterization, synthesizing procedure, and multiple-aspect applications. In addition, the previous review articles based on PA have also been indicated; (ii) the applications of PA as a substrate have been subdivided into parts with a glance on the reaction components numbers; (iii) the applications of PA in esterification reactions; and (iv) some examples of PA in multistep synthesis. The review covers the corresponding literature up to the end of 2022. According to the abovementioned classifications, PA is a potent substrate to design a wide range of heterocyclic compounds that possess various kinds of properties and applications in chemistry, industry, and pharmaceuticals.

A diselenobis-functionalized magnetic catalyst based on iron oxide/silica nanoparticles suggested for amidation reactions

In this study, a new heterogeneous magnetic catalytic system based on selenium-functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles is presented and suggested for facilitating amide/peptide bonds formation. The prepared nanocatalyst, entitled as "Fe3O4/SiO2-DSBA" (DSBA stands for 2,2'-diselanediylbis benzamide), has been precisely characterized for identifying its physicochemical properties. As the most brilliant point, the catalytic performance of the designed system can be mentioned, where only a small amount of Fe3O4/SiO2-DSBA (0.25 mol%) has resulted in 89% reaction yield, under a mild condition. Also, given high importance of green chemistry, convenient catalyst particles separation from the reaction medium through its paramagnetic property (ca. 30 emu·g-1) should be noticed. This particular property provided a substantial opportunity to recover the catalyst particles and successfully reuse them for at least three successive times. Moreover, due to showing other excellences, such as economic benefits and nontoxicity, the presented catalytic system is recommended to be scaled up and exploited in the industrial applications.

An Efficient, Green, Microwave-assisted Synthesis of Benzo[a]furo[2, 3-c]phenazine Derivatives with TiO2-SO3H as Cost-effective and Recyclable Catalyst under Solventfree Conditions

BACKGROUND

A rapid, efficient, and environmentally benign procedure for the synthesis of novel furo [2,3-c]phenazine derivatives has been developed via reactions of 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1,4-dione, arylglyoxals, and indole in the presence of TiO₂-SO₃H-catalyst (TSAC) as a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst under solventfree conditions using microwave irradiation.

INTRODUCTION

This study describes a successful approach for the synthesis of 2-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1H-indol-3- yl) benzo[a]furo[2,3-c] phenazine in the presence of TiO₂-SO₃H-catalyst using microwave irradiation.

OBJECTIVES

In this paper, we report an efficient and convenient method for the synthesis of phenazine derivatives from benzo[a]phenazin-5-ol, arylglyoxal derivatives, and indoles in the presence of TiO₂-SO₃H-catalyst under microwave irradiation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All reagents and solvents were purchased from Merck and Aldrich and used without further purification. 1H NMR spectra (DMSO) were recorded on the Gemini-500 MHz spectrophotometer with TMS as an internal standard.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To investigate the reaction conditions for the synthesis of 2-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1Hindol- 3-yl) benzo[a]furo [2, 3-c] phenazine derivatives, we performed a reaction between 2-hydroxynaphthalene- 1,4-dione (1 mmol) and aromatic 1,2-diamines (1 mmol) as a model.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated a green and straightforward procedure for the efficient synthesis of novel benzo[ a]furo[2, 3-c] phenazine derivatives in high yields via a one-pot, four-component domino protocol by using TiO₂-SO₃H as a mild, effective, non-toxic, and inexpensive solid acid catalyst without the addition of an organic co-solvent.

Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of heterocyclic compounds

In this review, we tried to underscore the synthesis of the heterocyclic compounds under assisted ultrasonic irradiation. The ultrasonic irradiation has been applied for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery process since it dramatically reduces reaction times, from days or hours to minutes. Also, ultrasonic irradiation provides lower cost, excellent yields, greater purity, and simple workups as compared to lower yields, longer reaction times, lesser purity and in the conventional methods. In this review, we have compared synthesis of the heterocyclic compounds under ultrasonic irradiation with other methods.

Preparation, characterization, and use of novel Cu@Fe3O4 MNPs in the synthesis of tetrahydrobenzimidazo[2,1-b]quinazolin-1(2H)-ones and 2H-indazolo[2,1-b]phthalazine-triones under solvent-free conditions

Cu@Fe₃O₄ MNPs as novel nanomagnetic reagents were prepared to investigate their catalytic behavior in the preparation of tetrahydrobenzimidazo[2,1-b]quinazolin-1(2H)-ones, as important biologically active compounds. Then, characterization of the synthesized nanoparticles was performed using different methods including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All reactions were performed with small amounts of the Cu@Fe₃O₄ MNPs under solvent-free conditions. After completion of the reaction, because of the magnetic nature of the nanocatalyst, they could be simply separated with an external magnet and easily reused with no considerable decrease in the catalytic behavior even after seven runs.

Functionalized magnetic nanomaterials for rapid and effective adsorptive removal of fluoroquinolones: Comprehensive experimental cum computational investigations

Alarming growth of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environment has elevated concerns about their potential impact on human health. Taking cognizance of this, the present study is focussed on the coating of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with different functionalities and to use them as adsorbents for pharmaceutical waste. The thickness of the coating was analysed using Small angle X-ray scattering technique. Thorough study of the isotherms and kinetics were performed suggesting monolayer adsorption and pseudo kinetic order model, respectively. To get an insight of the interactions liable for adsorption of fluoroquinolones over the functionalized magnetic nanoparticles computational studies were undertaken. The results demonstrated substantial evidence proposing remarkable potential of these nanostructures as adsorbents for different pollutants with an additional advantage of stability and facile recoverability with a view to treat wastewater.

Introduction of Fe3O4@SiO2–ZrCl2-MNPs for the efficient promotion of some multi-component reactions under solvent-free conditions

In the work, the preparation, characterization and use of Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–ZrCl₂-MNPs as nano magnetic reagents in the promotion of some multi-component reactions is reported.

4-Dialkylaminopyridine modified magnetic nanoparticles: as an efficient nano-organocatalyst for one-pot synthesis of 2-amino-4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile derivatives in water

A new DMAP-based magnetic nano-organocatalyst was developed for efficient one-pot synthesis of 2-amino-4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile derivatives in water as a green solvent.