Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 16, Issue 4, 2016

In the natural products research, a valuable approach is the prospection of uncommon sources and unexplored habitat. Special attention has been given to endophytic fungi because of their ability to produce new and interesting secondary metabolites, which have several biological applications. The endophytes establish exclusive symbiotic relationships with plants and the metabolic interactions may support the synthesis of some similar valuables compounds. Among secondary metabolites, phenol-derived structures are responsible for several bioactivities such as antioxidant, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, among others. Phenolic compounds might be biosynthesized from the shikimate pathway. Although shikimic acid is a common precursor in plants, it is described as rare in microorganisms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review about phenolic compounds produced by endophytic fungi and a comparison has been made with those produced by the plant host. This review covers 124 phenolic secondary metabolites produced by endophytic fungi. Considering the data analyzed by us, only seven of such compounds were isolated from fungi and from their hosts. These observations claim for more attention to phenolic compounds produced by endophytic fungi with a view to understand the real importance of these compounds to endophytes survival.

Imidazole derivatives have known to possess a diverse range of pharmacological activity. In particular, one of ruthenium-based derivatives, imidazolium [trans-RuCl4(1H-imidazole)(DMSOS)] (NAMI-A) which is now in clinical trials, opens a new avenue for developing promising ruthenium-based anticancer drugs alternative to Cisplatin. This mini-review overviews some representative examples of imidazole-containing ruthenium complexes (ICRCs) with in vitro anticancer activities. Special attention is paid on ICRCs with the activities more potent than Cisplatin, and their correlation with their DNA binding properties in the context of possible cancer chemotherapeutic applications. The ICRCs are divided into two main categories according to their dark and light activated cytotoxicity; the former case is further clarified into mononuclear complexes including tris(bidentate polypyridyl) ruthenium complexes and those containing monodentatively coordinative imidazole ligands as well as polynuclear complexes. The perspective, challenges and future efforts for investigations into ICRCs are pointed out or suggested.

Despite the considerable advancements in the development of antimicrobial agents, incidents of epidemics due to multi drug resistance in microorganisms have created a massive hazard to mankind. Due to increased resistance against conventional antibiotics, researchers and pharmaceutical industries are more concerned about novel therapeutic agents for the prevention of bacterial infections. Enormous wealth of traditional system of medicine gains importance in health therapies over again. With ancient credentials of potent medicinal plants, various herbal remedies came forward for the management of bacterial infections. The Ayurvedic approach facilitates the development of new therapeutic agents due to structural and functional diversity among phytochemicals. The abundance and diversity is responsible for the characterization of new lead structures from medicinal plants. Industrial interest has increased due to recent research advancements viz. synergistic and high-throughput screening approach for the evaluation of vast variety of phytochemicals. The review certainly emphasizes on the traditional medicines as alternatives to conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. The review briefly describes mode of action of various antibiotics and resistance mechanisms. This review focuses on the chemical diversity and various mechanisms of action of phytochemicals against bacterial pathogens.

Cancer remains one of the unsolved diseases of today’s advanced drug discovery world even though it is known to humans for centuries. There is continued effort to discover new chemotherapeutic agents to improve the outcome of cancer patients. Small-molecule agonists at tolllike receptor 7 and 8 (TLR7/8) have recently generated renewed interest in cancer research owing to their profound antitumoral activity. TLR-7/8 agonist imidazoquinolines (Imiquimod, and Resiquimod) and dual inhibitor of phosphoinositide 3-kinase and mammalian target of rapamycin (NVP-BEZ235) have emerged as clinically important candidates for treating cancers. This article reviews briefly the synthesis, structure-activity relationship (SAR) and biological activities of clinically studied imidazoquinolines along with novel emerging preclinical imidazoquinolines for the anticancer activity.

The derivatives of quinolinone and triazole exhibit antitumor, antiplatelet, antidepressant, and anticonvulsant properties in diverse experimental systems. In the past decades, we have developed increasingly potent anticonvulsant agents by the structural modification of compounds derived from 3,4-DHQLO, triazole, and their analogs. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a new series of 3,4-DHQLO and triazole and their derivatives; their anticonvulsant activity was evaluated. Moreover, we also reviewed the anticonvulsant activity of 3,4-DHQLO and triazole and their derivatives and new approaches.