Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry - Volume 9, Issue 1, 2012

Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry has now entered its 9th year. It has over the years developed into a highly sought journal with a very respectable impact factor. This success is due to the enthusiastic and untiring efforts of its Associate Editors, Regional Editors, Guest Editors of Hot Topic issues and its active Editorial Board Members. I wish to thank them for their help and assistance in soliciting high quality reviews and contributing excellent reviews themselves. As the year 2012 commences, we can look forward to another successful volume of this important international journal.

Recently, bioorganic chemistry has been applied to the broad fields of medicine and health sciences. The isolation and synthesis of useful bioorganic compounds interacting with biomolecules and affecting humans have contributed more to life sciences. Some bioorganic compounds interrupt pathogens including viruses and bacteria, etc., and can be used as drugs against them. Furthermore, recent developments in bioinformatics have enabled us to design therapeutic drugs targeting pathogens. In addition, some isolated bioorganic compounds from plants and bacteria are known to affect cell metabolism and the immune system and improve health and nutrition. Therefore, bioorganic chemistry and its related fields provide useful tools for exploring strategies for the sick and the welfare of communities. To discuss this special topic, scientists employing various approaches to study bioorganic chemistry for medicine and health sciences are invited. I am glad to have the honor to organize a Special issue for Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry and to experience working with eminent scientists to review research on Bioorganic Chemistry. This issue includes articles on the following topics: bioorganic molecules produced by fungi written by Dr. Megumi Kuba-Miyara and Prof. Masaaki Yasuda, recent studies on anti-influenza A virus drugs written by Drs. Kunihiro Kaihatsu and Dale L. Barnard, recent development of small-molecule HIV inhibitors written by Norihito Kawashita and colleagues, analysis of infection route of prion in intestine using inhibitor of Fc receptor written by Dr. Ryuta Uraki and colleagues. Hopefully, readers will enjoy this issue, obtain useful information for their own research, and be inspired with new ideas for future research on bioorganic chemistry.

The pandemic potential of influenza viruses has engaged a large portion of the antiviral drug discovery research community in the development of numerous antiviral agents, with the ultimate goal to supplement effective immunization when new strains arise, especially after an antigenic shift. Antiviral agents against influenza A targets different replication steps of the virus life cycles. Some of the agents are analogues of biomolecules required during virus infection and others are inspired from natural plant extracts. In this review, we summarize their mechanisms of action during the influenza life cycle in vitro and the efficacies of combinational therapies with these agents against the influenza virus infections in vivo.

The filamentous fungus ‘ Monascus’ has been used as a natural food coloring and folk medicine in East Asia for centuries. Several bioactive substances produced by Monascus species have been isolated and identified. Recent studies demonstrated their mode of action in vitro and effectiveness in vivo, and their utilization for health foods and medicine has advanced. This mini review will introduce the physiological functions and safety of bioorganic chemicals produced by Monascus species.

Over the past few years, remarkable progress has been made in the development of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) membrane fusion inhibitors. The focus has been on peptide inhibitors, which were developed by mimicking HIV sequences; however, these types of inhibitors generally lack oral bioavailability and are expensive. Therefore, development of small-molecule inhibitors has gained importance and recently progressed. This paper reviews the rapid advancements in the development of small-molecule HIV inhibitors over the last decade.

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative zoonotic foodborne disorders, which are caused by an abnormal isoform of prion protein (PrPSc) derived from the cellular isoform of prion protein (PrPC). According to epidemiological surveillance and in vivo experiments, exposure to the PrPSc during the weaning period is fraught with risk, suggesting that, during development, the intestinal defenses and the immune system are involved in PrPSc infection susceptibility. Although it remains unclear how PrPSc passes through the natural biological barriers during its invasion of intestinal cells, the 37 kDa/67 kDa laminin receptor is suspected to be one of the receptors involved in PrPSc-incorporation. In addition, we have recently shown that the neonatal Fc receptor (nFcR), which contributes to the uptake of maternal antibodies into the intestine, may play an important role in PrPSc incorporation. In this review, recent studies on PrPSc uptake and models of PrPSc incorporation into the intestine via the laminin and Fc receptors are described.

Cyclooctatetraene [COT], a simple non-aromatic cyclic polyene, is capable of undergoing a variety of oxidation and cycloaddition reactions to afford polycyclic structures. In addition, complexation of COT or the cycloaddition products with transition metals facilitates bond formation. Recent developments in the reactivity of COT and application to the synthesis of naturally occurring and non-naturally occurring compounds is reviewed.

Benzothiazoles and its derivatives are an important group of heterocyclic compounds that exhibit a wide range of pharmacological properties such as antitumor, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anticonvulsant and anti-inflammatory. These different biological applications for benzothiazole compounds have motivated new efforts in search for novel derivatives with improved biological activity and diverse applications in pharmaceutical industry. Owing to the importance of this system, the aim of this review is to highlight aspects reported on the chemistry and biological activity of benzothiazoles during the past few years (2000-2010).

In this review, the natural source, structure, biological activities and the synthesis of labdanes diterpenes with highly functionalized B rings, described to date are shown. The structures for these compounds have been classified taking into account the number of oxygenated positions of the B ring. In this manner the classification has 7 groups of deoxygenated labdanes, 6 of trioxygenated and one group of the tetraoxygenated ones.

In this short review, the direct intermolecular cross-coupling reactions of heteroarenes with aryl (pseudo)halides catalyzed by transition metals via C-H bond cleavage in recent years are described. The fundamental emphasis has been given to the synthetic aspects of different intermolecular direct cross-coupling reaction. Much attention is drawn to the palladium-catalyzed arylation reactions due to their important utility at present. Meanwhile, the procedures employed other transition metals are also presented.

This review describes some developments on the anion sensing based on the indicator displacement. The reported systems are mainly from 2006. The simple IDAs approach, as a useful and facile technique for the creation of optical sensors, would give rise to much more attention and destined to flourish in future.