Characterization and biological studies on Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of carbohydrazones ending by pyridyl ring

Computational investigation of Moringa oleifera phytochemicals targeting EGFR: molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation and density functional theory studies

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a prominent target for anticancer therapy due to its role in activating several cell signaling cascades. Clinically approved EGFR inhibitors are reported to show treatment resistance and toxicity, this study, therefore, investigates Moringa oleifera phytochemicals to find potent and safe anti-EGFR compounds. For that, phytochemicals were screened based on drug-likeness and molecular docking analysis followed by molecular dynamics simulation, density functional theory analysis and ADMET analysis to identify the effective inhibitors of EGFR tyrosine kinase (EGFR-TK) domain. Known EGFR-TK inhibitors (1-4 generations) were used as control. Among 146 phytochemicals, 136 compounds showed drug-likeness, of which Delta 7-Avenasterol was the most potential EGFR-TK inhibitor with a binding energy of -9.2 kcal/mol followed by 24-Methylenecholesterol (-9.1 kcal/mol), Campesterol (-9.0 kcal/mol) and Ellagic acid (-9.0 kcal/mol). In comparison, the highest binding affinity from control drugs was displayed by Rociletinib (-9.0 kcal/mol). The molecular dynamics simulation (100 ns) exhibited the structural stability of native EGFR-TK and protein-inhibitor complexes. Further, MM/PBSA computed the binding free energies of protein complex with Delta 7-Avenasterol, 24-Methylenecholesterol, Campesterol and Ellagic acid as -154.559 ± 18.591 kJ/mol, -139.176 ± 19.236 kJ/mol, -136.212 ± 17.598 kJ/mol and -139.513 ± 23.832 kJ/mol, respectively. Non-polar interactions were the major contributors to these energies. The density functional theory analysis also established the stability of these inhibitor compounds. ADMET analysis depicted acceptable outcomes for all top phytochemicals without displaying any toxicity. In conclusion, this report has identified promising EGFR-TK inhibitors to treat several cancers that can be further investigated through laboratory and clinical tests.

A new class of anticancer activity with computational studies for a novel bioactive aminophosphonates based on pyrazole moiety

The present study involves synthesis a new series of α-aminophosphonates 2a-f and 4a-d derivatives in good yield with a simple workup via Kabachnik-Fields reaction in the presence of lithium perchlorate as Lewis acid catalyst. All the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed using various physical, spectroscopic, and analytical data. The in vitro anticancer activities of each compound were evaluated against colorectal carcinoma Colon cancer (HCT-116) and Epdermoid carcinoma (HEP2) and also Human lung fibroblast normal cell line (WI38) compared with Doxorubicin. The results showed that Compounds 2a, 4b and 4d exhibited more potent inhibitory activity for Epdermoid Carcinoma (HEP2) compared with doxorubicin. For colon carcinoma cells (HCT-116) Compounds 2a, 2d and 4b gave the strongest activity among all compounds compared with doxorubicin. Moreover, all designed structures were docked into the active site of VEGFR2 and FGFR1 proteins. The result reveals that compound 2b and have the strongest inhibitory activity of the VEGFR2 and FGFR1 proteins indicating that these substances might conceivably operate as VEGFR2 and FGFR1 inhibitors and hence might take role in anticancer activities with various binding interactions. The 3D-QSAR models produced strong statistical results since they were defined by PLS factors 4 and confirmed by parameters as R2, R2 CV, Stability, F-value, P-value, RMSE, Q2, and Pearson-r.

A cyanobiphenyl-based fluorescent ''lighting-up'' sensor for highly selective and sensitive recognition of Al3+: Theoretical, practical and bioimaging studies

The recognition of toxic Al³⁺ in foods and biosystems has of great interest to researchers. Herein, a novel cyanobiphenyl-based chemosensor CATH (E)-N'-((4'-cyano-4-hydroxy-[1,1'-biphenyl]-3-yl)methylene)thiophene-2-carbohydrazide was fabricated and shown to recognize Al³⁺ in HEPES buffer:EtOH (90:10, v:v, pH = 7.4) by ''lighting-up'' fluorescence sensing. The CATH evidenced high sensitivity (LOD = 13.1 nM) and excellent selectivity to Al³⁺ over competing cations. The Job's plot, TOF-MS and theoretical computation studies were performed to probe the binding mechanism of Al³⁺ to CATH. Additionally; CATH was successfully utilized to practical applications and employed to recover of Al³⁺ from different food samples. More importantly, it was employed to intracellular Al³⁺ detection in living cells including THLE2 and HepG2.

Comprehensive Study of the Ammonium Sulfamate-Urea Binary System

The physicochemical properties of binary systems are of great importance for the application of the latter. We report on the investigation of an ammonium sulfamate-urea binary system with different component ratios using a combination of experimental (FTIR, XRD, TGA/DSC, and melting point) and theoretical (DFT, QTAIM, ELF, RDG, ADMP, etc.) techniques. It is shown that, at a temperature of 100 °C, the system under study remains thermally and chemically stable for up to 30 min. It was established using X-ray diffraction analysis that the heating time barely affects the X-ray characteristics of the system. Data on the aggregate states in specified temperature ranges were obtained with thermal analysis and determination of the melting point. The structures of the ammonium sulfamate-urea system with different component ratios were optimized within the density functional theory. The atom-centered density matrix propagation calculation of the ammonium sulfamate-urea system with different component ratios was performed at temperatures of 100, 300, and 500 K. Regardless of the component ratio, a regular increase in the potential energy variation (curve amplitude) with an increase in temperature from 100 to 500 K was found.

Microwave-assisted N-alkylation of amines with alcohols catalyzed by MnCl2 : Anticancer, docking, and DFT studies

A new protocol for the N-alkylation of amines with alcohols for the synthesis of tertiary amines in the presence of MnCl₂ as a catalyst, under microwave conditions, is described. The advantages of this protocol include stable reaction profiles, a wide substrate variety, excellent yields, low cost, high yields, and easy workup conditions. The anticancer efficacy of all the synthesized compounds was tested in vitro against various cancer cell lines, such as MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 (human breast), HT-29, HCT 116 (colon cancer), A549 (human lung carcinoma), and Vero cells. Among the screened compounds, 3e, 3h, and 3i demonstrated potent anticancer activity, with compound 3h surpassing the reference drug cisplatin against A549, MCF7, MDA-MB-231, and HCT116 cancer cells. The introduction of an electron-withdrawing group on the phenyl ring resulted in increased anticancer activity. The most potent compounds, 3e, 3h, and 3i, were tested against VEGFR-2, HER2, and EGFR in multikinase inhibition assays, with compounds 3h and 3i showing improved potency against the HER2 kinase. The compounds formed two H-bonds with amino acids, indicating that they had a high affinity for the target HER2 kinase (PDB ID: 3RCD), according to the docking analysis. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity properties of the optimized analogs were also assessed in vitro, enabling the discovery of promising anticancer agents. Finally, the B3LYP level was used to measure density functional theory geometry optimization and the related quantum parameters for the active compounds.

1,2,3-Triazoles of 8-Hydroxyquinoline and HBT: Synthesis and Studies (DNA Binding, Antimicrobial, Molecular Docking, ADME, and DFT)

A new series of 1,2,3-triazole hybrids containing either 2- or 4-hydroxyphenyl benzothiazole (2- or 4-HBT) and naphthalen-1-ol or 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) was synthesized in high yields and fully characterized. In vitro DNA binding studies with herring fish sperm DNA (hs-DNA) showed that quinoline- and 2-HBT-linked 1,2,3-triazoles of shorter alkyl linkers such as 6a are better with a high binding affinity (3.90 × 105 L mol-1) with hs-DNA as compared to naphthol- and 4-HBT-linked 1,2,3-triazoles bound to longer alkyl linkers. Molecular docking of most active 1,2,3-triazoles 6a-f showed high binding energy of 6a (-8.7 kcal mol-1). Also, compound 6a displayed considerable antibacterial activity and superior antifungal activity with reference to ciprofloxacin and fluconazole, respectively. The docking results of the fungal enzyme lanosterol 14-α-demethylase showed high binding energy for 6a (-9.7 kcal mol-1) involving dominating H-bonds, electrostatic interaction, and hydrophobic interaction. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameter, Molinspiration bioactivity score, and the PreADMET properties revealed that most of the synthesized 1,2,3-triazole molecules possess desirable physicochemical properties for drug-likeness and may be considered as orally active potential drugs. The electrophilicity index and chemical hardness properties were also studied by density functional theory (DFT) using the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level/basis set.

Investigation of biological activity of 2,3-disubstituted quinazolin-4(1H)-ones against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and DNA via docking, spectroscopy and DFT studies

Docking studies, structural data of DNA binding and molecular dynamics simulations of substituted quinazolin-4(1H)-ones.

Novel 1,3,5-triazine-based pyrazole derivatives as potential antitumor agents and EFGR kinase inhibitors: synthesis, cytotoxicity, DNA binding, molecular docking and DFT studies

The development of new 1,3,5-triazine-based pyrazole derivatives as effective anticancer agents.

Screening and Analysis of Hypolipidemic Components from Shuangdan Capsule Based on Pancreatic Lipase

Background:

Some natural pancreatic lipase inhibitors with fewer side effects are proposed. As a traditional Chinese medicine, Shuangdan Capsule (SDC) has been used for the treatment of higher lipid in blood, which is mainly composed by Radix Salviae and Peony skin.

Objective:

This work is aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of the constituents from this SDC against metabolic disorders, the molecular flexibility and intermolecular interactional characteristics of these components in the active sites.

Methods:

The small molecules were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database TCM database, the systems-level pharmacological database for Traditional Chinese Medicine TCMSP server was used to calculate the ADME-related properties. Autodock Vina was used to perform virtual screening of the selected molecules and to return energy values in several ligand conformations. The network parameters were calculated using the network analyzer plug-in in Cytoscape.

Results:

The most active six molecules are all enclosed by amino acids ASP79, TYR114, GLU175, PRO180, PHE215, GLY216 and LUE264, among which, hydrophobic interaction, hydrogen bond and repulsive forces play extremely important roles. It is worth noting that most of the local minima of molecular electrostatic potentials on van der Waals (vdW) surface are increased while the maxima negative ones are decreased simultaneously, implying that the electrostatic potential tends to be stable. From the topological analysis of the Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network, PNLIP related genes are also proved to be pivotal targets for hyperlipidemia, such as LPL, AGK, MGLL, LIPE, LIPF and PNPLA2. Further GO analysis indicated that lipophilic terpenoid compounds may reduce the blood lipid by taking part in the lipid catabolic process, the extracellular space and the cellular components of the extracellular region part and the triacylglycerol lipase activity.

Conclusion:

This study provides some useful information for the development and application of natural hypolipidemic medcines. Further pharmacologically active studies are still needed both in vivo and in vitro.

Pyridyl thiosemicarbazide: synthesis, crystal structure, DFT/B3LYP, molecular docking studies and its biological investigations

N-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazinecarbothioamide has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray and spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, its geometry optimization, calculated vibrational frequencies, non-linear optical properties, electrostatic potential and average local ionization energy properties of molecular surface were being evaluated using Jaguar program in the Schrödinger's set on the basis of the density functional concept to pretend the molecular geometry and predict properties of molecule performed by the hybrid density functional routine B3LYP. Furthermore, the docking study of N-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazinecarbothioamide were applied against negative Escherichia coli bacterial and gram positive Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strains by Schrödinger suite program using XP glide protocol.

Bivalent transition metal complexes of (E)-3-(2-benzylidenehydrazinyl)-3-oxo-N-(p-tolyl)propanamide: Spectroscopic, computational, biological activity studies

Schiff base complexes of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) with (E)-3-(2-benzylidenehydrazinyl)-3-oxo-N-(p-tolyl)propanamide (H2BHAH) containing N and O donor sites were synthesized. Both ligand and its metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, thermal analysis (TG and DTG), spectroscopy ((1)H NMR, IR, UV-visible, MS spectra), and physical measurements (magnetic susceptibility and molar conductance). The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the different decomposition steps of some complexes were calculated using the Coats-Redfern and Horowitz-Metzger methods. Also, the DFT studying was evaluated to confirm the geometry of the investigated compounds. Moreover, the association and formation constants of Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions in mixed solvent at 290.15K were calculated by using electrical conductance. The antimicrobial activities of the ligand and its complexes were studied against gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, gram negative bacteria; Escherichia coli and pathogenic fungi; Candida albicans by using minimum inhibition concentrations method. The antioxidant (ABTS-derived free radical method) and cytotoxic (in vitro Ehrlich Ascites) activities of the isolated compounds were estimated.