New Insights into the Enhancement of Adventitious Root Formation Using N,N'-Bis(2,3-methylenedioxyphenyl)urea

Adventitious rooting is a process of postembryonic organogenesis strongly affected by endogenous and exogenous factors. Although adventitious rooting has been exploited in vegetative propagation programs for many plant species, it is a bottleneck for vegetative multiplication of difficult-to-root species, such as many woody species. The purpose of this research was to understand how N,N'-bis-(2,3-methylenedioxyphenyl)urea could exert its already reported adventitious rooting adjuvant activity, starting from the widely accepted knowledge that adventitious rooting is a hormonally tuned progressive process. Here, by using specific in vitro bioassays, histological analyses, molecular docking simulations and in vitro enzymatic bioassays, we have demonstrated that this urea derivative does not interfere with polar auxin transport; it inhibits cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX); and, possibly, it interacts with the apoplastic portion of the auxin receptor ABP1. As a consequence of this dual binding capacity, the lifespan of endogenous cytokinins could be locally increased and, at the same time, auxin signaling could be favored. This combination of effects could lead to a cell fate transition, which, in turn, could result in increased adventitious rooting.

Design, Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of a New Series of N-aryl-N'-[4-(pyridin-2-ylmethoxy)benzyl]urea Derivatives

The development of cancer treatments requires continuous exploration and improvement, in which the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of cancer is still an important pathway. In this study, based on the molecular hybridization strategy, a new structural framework with an N-aryl-N'-arylmethylurea scaffold was designed, and 16 new target compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activities against four different cancer cell lines A549, MCF7, HCT116, PC3, and human liver normal cell line HL7702. The results have shown seven compounds with 1-methylpiperidin-4-yl groups having excellent activities against all four cancer cell lines, and they exhibited scarcely any activities against HL7702. Among them, compound 9b and 9d showed greatly excellent activity against the four kinds of cells, and the IC₅₀ for MCF7 and PC3 cell lines were even less than 3 μM.

Urea derivative catalyzed enantioselective aldol reaction of isatins with ketones

Urea derivative has been used to catalyze the asymmetric aldol reaction of isatins with ketones. The resulting 3-alkyl-3-hydroxy-indolin-2-ones products were obtained in good yields (70%-94%) with high enantioselectivities (up to 87%ee).

3-{(E)-[4-(4-Hy-droxy-3-meth-oxy-phen-yl)butan-2-yl-idene]amino}-1-phenyl-urea: crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis

Two independent mol-ecules (A and B) comprise the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C18H21N3O3. The urea moiety is disubstituted with one amine being linked to a phenyl ring, which is twisted out of the plane of the CN2O urea core [dihedral angles = 25.57 (11) (A) and 29.13 (10)° (B)]. The second amine is connected to an imine (E conformation), which is linked in turn to an ethane bridge that links a disubstituted benzene ring. Intra-molecular amine-N-H⋯N(imine) and hydroxyl-O-H⋯O(meth-oxy) hydrogen bonds close S(5) loops in each case. The mol-ecules have twisted conformations with the dihedral angles between the outer rings being 38.64 (81) (A) and 48.55 (7)° (B). In the crystal, amide-N-H⋯O(amide) hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules A and B via an eight-membered {⋯HNCO}2 synthon. Further associations between mol-ecules, leading to supra-molecular layers in the ac plane, are hydrogen bonds of the type hydroxyl-O-H⋯N(imine) and phenyl-amine-N-H⋯O(meth-oxy). Connections between layers, leading to a three-dimensional architecture, comprise benzene-C-H⋯O(hy-droxy) inter-actions. A detailed analysis of the calculated Hirshfeld surfaces shows mol-ecules A and B participate in very similar inter-molecular inter-actions and that any variations relate to conformational differences between the mol-ecules.

1-{(E)-[(2E)-3-(4-Meth-oxy-phen-yl)-1-phenyl-prop-2-en-1-yl-idene]amino}-3-phenyl-urea: crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis

The title compound, C23H21N3O2, is constructed about an almost planar disubstituted amino-urea residue (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0201 Å), which features an intra-molecular amine-N-H⋯N(imine) hydrogen bond. In the 'all-trans' chain connecting this to the terminal meth-oxy-benzene residue, the conformation about each of the imine and ethyl-ene double bonds is E. In the crystal, amide-N-H⋯O(carbon-yl) hydrogen bonds connect centrosymmetrically related mol-ecules into dimeric aggregates, which also incorporate ethyl-ene-C-H⋯O(amide) inter-actions. The dimers are linked by amine-phenyl-C-H⋯π(imine-phen-yl) and meth-oxy-benzene-C-H⋯π(amine-phen-yl) inter-actions to generate a three-dimensional network. The importance of C-H⋯π inter-actions in the mol-ecular packing is reflected in the relatively high contributions made by C⋯H/H⋯C contacts to the Hirshfeld surface, i.e. 31.6%.

Crystal stucture of methyl 2-({[2-(meth-oxy-carbon-yl)phen-yl]carbamo-yl}amino)-benzoate

In the title compound, C₁₇H₁₆N₂O₅, the dihedral angles between the central urea [N—C(=O)—N] fragment and its attached benzene rings are 20.20 (14) and 24.24 (13)°; the dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 42.1 (1)°. The mol­ecular conformation is consolidated by two intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which both generate S(6) rings. In the crystal, inversion dimers linked by pairs of C—H⋯O inter­actions generate R₂²(14) loops. The dimers are linked by further C—H⋯O inter­actions into (011) sheets.