Letters in Organic Chemistry - Volume 21, Issue 8, 2024

Tyrosinase is a critical enzyme responsible for pigmentation disorders, and tyrosinase inhibition is an established strategy to treat hyperpigmentation. In the current study, cinnamic acidbased derivatives were designed and synthesized. All synthesized compounds were confirmed using IR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, and CNH analysis. The inhibitory potencies of all derivatives against tyrosinase were determined, and it was shown that 5m bearing para-chloro moiety exhibits an IC50 value of 77.62 μmol/L. Analysis of enzyme kinetic studies revealed that 5m is an uncompetitive inhibitor. In silico studies against tyrosinase predicted possible binding mode in the pocket such that 5m formed critical interactions with both Cu co-factors within the binding site. This study presents the potential of aryl-substituted cinnamic acids that can benefit various cosmetic formulations as depigmentation agents.

Chemicals and poisons in the body interfere with the cell cycle and inhibit the growth of cancer cells. In this way, the function of chemicals in the body is controlled by taking anti-cancer drugs. Due to the degradability and compatibility of carbon nanotubes and boron nitride with the environment, they can act as suitable drug carriers for the transfer of anticancer drugs and deliver the drugs to the target cells. In the current work, the encapsulation of Formestane (FMS) anticancer drug into the carbon (CNT) and boron nitride (BNNT) (8,8) nanotubes was investigated for the first time using the density functional theory: B3LYP/3-21G* and the natural bond orbital analysis in the gas phase. Using natural bond orbital analysis, the charge transfer between FMS drug and CNT and BNNT nanotubes (8,8)/ FMS (BNNT/FMS) complexes were explored. Based on the results obtained from the calculation of encapsulation energy, it was found that the adsorption process was favorable. The interaction effects of FMS drug and CNT and BNNT (8,8) nanotubes on the natural bond orbital charge, the chemical shift parameters, and electronic properties were also evaluated. This study revealed that CNT and BNNT (8,8) nanotubes can be a suitable carrier for FMS drug delivery. The ultraviolet-visible spectra of the FMS drug, the CNT and BNNT (8,8), and the BNNT/FMS complexes were computed using time-dependent density functional theory (DFT: B3LYP) calculations.

In this study, synthesis of 1,2,4 triazole-fluoroquinolone hybrid compounds was realized. 7a-d hybrid compound was obtained as a result of mannich reaction with 6a-b triazole compounds norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, Mass Spectrometry and Elemental Analysis confirmed the structures of all synthesized compounds. The antimicrobial activities of all compounds were investigated, and it was observed that 7a-d compounds, which are mannich bases, showed excellent activity.

This study focuses on exploring how the bioactive compounds found in amaranth— phytol, squalene, and α-tocopherol—could potentially offer medicinal benefits in the context of prostate cancer. The investigation involves a docking study with AKR1C3, an important target linked to the control of prostate cancer, aiming to uncover their potential effects against this disease. Costeffective and efficient cancer treatment options are crucial because of the high expenses associated with current cancer therapies as well as their side effects. Amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) is a pseudocereal crop abundant in squalene, α-tocopherol, and phytol, which shows promising foodbased therapy for various diseases, including cancer. Prostate cancer has been a significant contributor to mortality globally, but the introduction of relugolix has emerged as a crucial therapeutic intervention in its treatment. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the interactions between grain amaranth bioactive compounds squalene, phytol, and α-tocopherol with AKR1C3 protein utilizing a molecular docking approach facilitated by Autodock Vina software. Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB-PDB) (http://www.rcsb.org/) was used for retrieving the 3D crystal structure of the target protein, AKR1C3 (PDB ID: 7c7f). The 3D structure of bioactive compounds squalene, phytol, and α-tocopherol were retrieved from the PubChem database, following which Open-Babel was used to change the format from .sdf to .pdb. Furthermore, pharmacokinetics characteristics were also considered along with Lipinski’s rule of five using SwissADME (http://www. Swiss adme.ch/index.php) and pkCSM (http://structure.bioc.cam.ac.uk/pkcsm), indicating their potential as a drug candidate in the initial stage. The potential anticancer properties of the ligands were predicted using PASS software. Following the completion of the docking study, it became evident that α-tocopherol demonstrated the most significant binding energy, followed by squalene and phytol, in comparison to the established drug, relugolix. This implies that the chosen bioactive compounds might possess enzyme-inhibiting properties, indicating their potential for further in vivo anticancer screening using model organisms. The findings serve as stepping stones for advancing the potential use of the discussed bioactive compounds as a potential drug candidate for prostate cancer.

The Fe (III)-Cu (II) binary oxide magnetic nanocatalyst emerges as an environmentally friendly and highly efficient solid acid catalyst, demonstrating remarkable utility in the one-pot synthesis of 2, 4, 5-trisubstituted imidazole and 1,4-dihydropyridine compounds, all achieved under solvent-free conditions. A facile co-precipitation method was used to synthesize nanostructured Fe-Cu binary oxide. Notably, this Fe-Cu binary oxide magnetic nanocatalyst proves its eco-friendly credentials as an exceptionally efficient and reusable catalyst, offering ease of handling, recovery, and multiple uses with minimal reactivity loss. Furthermore, the Fe (III)-Cu (II) binary oxide magnetic nanocatalyst's magnetic separability enhances its practicality, allowing for effortless catalyst retrieval after reactions. Significantly, the structural characteristics are meticulously elucidated through advanced analytical techniques, including ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. This work presents a versatile and sustainable solution for catalysis, with wide-reaching implications for green chemistry and the development of reusable, efficient catalysts for organic synthesis. The exceptional performance and eco-friendliness of the Fe-Cu binary oxide magnetic nanocatalyst underscore its practical significance. Fe-Cu binary oxide magnetic nanocatalyst exhibits the highest catalytic activity compared to others. The employment of this catalyst consistently delivers excellent yields in the target reactions, highlighting its potential to contribute positively to sustainable chemical processes.

N4-methylcytosine (4mC) is one of the most important epigenetic modifications, which plays a significant role in biological progress and helps explain biological functions. Although biological experiments can identify potential 4mC sites, they are limited due to the experimental environment and labor-intensive process. Therefore, it is crucial to construct a computational model to identify the 4mC sites. Some computational methods have been proposed to identify the 4mC sites, but some problems should not be ignored, such as those presented as follows: (1) a more accurate algorithm is required to improve the prediction, especially for Matthew’s correlation coefficient (MCC); (2) easier method is needed for clinical research to design medicine or treat disease. Considering these aspects, an effective algorithm using comprehensible encoding in multiple species was proposed in this study. Since nucleotide arrangement and its property information could reflect the sequence structure and function, several feature vectors have been developed based on nucleotide energy information, trinucleotide energy information, and nucleotide chemical property information. Besides, feature effect has been analyzed to select the optimal feature vectors for multiple species. Finally, the optimal feature vectors were inputted into the CatBoost algorithm to construct the identification model. The evaluation results showed that our study obtained the highest MCC, i.e., 2.5%~11.1%, 1.4%~17.8%, 1.1%~7.6%, and 2.3%~18.0% higher than previous models for the A. thaliana, C. elegans, D. melanogaster, and E. coli datasets, respectively. These satisfactory results reflect that the proposed method is available to identify 4mC sites in multiple species, especially for MCC. It could provide a reasonable supplement for biological research.

Carbohydrates are an important group of biomolecules that have received special attention due to their significant role in the design and synthesis of new bioactive compounds. In this study, a new class of 5-arylisoxazole-glucose hybrids was designed and synthesized for evaluation of their inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase, α-amylase, and tyrosinase. The target compounds depicted selective α-glucosidase inhibitory activity over α-amylase, which is an important factor in reducing probable gastrointestinal problems in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In this respect, compound 9a, possessing the phenylisoxazole group, was found to be the most potent α-glucosidase inhibitor (IC50 = 292.2 ± 0.1 μM) compared to acarbose (IC50 = 750.2 ± 0.1 μM) as the positive control. All compounds were also evaluated for their anti-tyrosinase effect, and among them, compound 9j, containing a fluoroaryl moiety, showed potent activity (IC50 = 50.1 ± 6.3 μM) in comparison to kojic acid (IC50 = 23.6 ± 2.6 μM). Also, docking studies were performed to investigate the probable mode of action, which indicated the construction of important H-bonding interactions between the sugar moiety and the enzyme’s active sites. According to the results, hybrids containing heterocycles attached to glucose can be used to inhibit α-glucosidase.

N1-caffeoyl-N10-dihydrocaffeoylspermidine (Scotanamine D), a spermidine alkaloid isolated from various plants, is a medicinally valuable natural product. Recent studies have pointed out several health benefits of this compound. However, its synthetic procedures are still not described in the literature. We report the synthesis of this compound following two different schemes comprising multiple steps with excellent overall yields, which are 57% and 81%, respectively. These two synthetic schemes, which use commercially available and cheaper starting materials, can facilitate the large-scale manufacturing of Scotanamine D.

Hydrolysis of acetanilides and aminolysis of phenyl and thiophenyl acetates are related reactions since these are processes of nucleophilic substitution on the carbonyl carbon. Current views of chemical reactivity based on the DFT theory rely upon reactivity indices that are descriptors of both the reaction center and the molecule as a whole, and have not been applied to the given processes before. One of such descriptors is an atomic electrostatic potential. The given parameter was calculated by the DFT theory M06/6-311+G (non-specific solvation, MeCN, SMD, and full optimization) for the structures of substituted phenyl acetates XPhO-C(O)Me, acetanilides XPhNHC(O)Me, thiophenyl acetates ZPhSC(=O)Me, and benzyl amines XPhСH2NH2 (X, Z substituents). It has been found that all relationships between the atomic electrostatic potential, the charge on the reaction center in the Hirshfeld scheme, and logK are symbatic. Consequently, in all of the cases, the rate is determined by the nucleophilic attack on the reaction center, with the activity/selectivity relationship being observed. The fact that the reaction rate is limited by the nucleophilic attack of the reagent is not inconsistent with the views of the reaction being concerted, since it is known that such reactions may be quite concerted though not quite synchronous.