Sweet-Tasting Ionic Conjugates of Local Anesthetics and Vasoconstrictors.

Local anesthetics are widely utilized in dentistry, cosmetology, and medicine. Local anesthesia is essential to providing a pain-free experience during dental and local surgeries as well as cosmetic procedures. However, the injection itself may produce discomfort and be a source of aversion.

Ionic conjugates of lidocaine and sweeteners as better tasting local anesthetics for dentistry.

Lidocaine is the most widely utilized intraoral injected dental anesthetic, used for more than 500 million dental injections per year. Local anesthesia is essential for pain-free dentistry, yet intraoral injections are often considered painful and a source of anxiety for many patients. Any new anesthetics that will reduce the stress and anxiety of dental injection are expected to be beneficial.

Macrocyclic peptidomimetics with antimicrobial activity: synthesis, bioassay, and molecular modeling studies.

Novel, cyclic peptidomimetics were synthesized by facile acylation reactions using benzotriazole chemistry. Microbiological testing of the synthesized compounds revealed an exceptionally high activity against Candida albicans with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) two orders of magnitude lower than the MIC of the antifungal reference drug amphotericin B. A strikingly high activity was also observed against three Gram-negative bacterial strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus vulgaris), two of which are known human pathogens.

An ionic liquid process for mercury removal from natural gas.

Efficient scrubbing of mercury vapour from natural gas streams has been demonstrated both in the laboratory and on an industrial scale, using chlorocuprate(II) ionic liquids impregnated on high surface area porous solid supports, resulting in the effective removal of mercury vapour from natural gas streams. This material has been commercialised for use within the petroleum gas production industry, and has currently been running continuously for three years on a natural gas plant in Malaysia. Here we report on the chemistry underlying this process, and demonstrate the transfer of this technology from gram to ton scale.

Dual inhibition of the α-glucosidase and butyrylcholinesterase studied by molecular field topology analysis.

A striking dual inhibition of enzymes α-glucosidase and butyrylcholinesterase by small drug-like molecules, including 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles, chalcones, and benzothiazepines, was rationalized with the help of Molecular Field Topology Analysis, a 3D QSAR technique similar to CoMFA. A common pharmacophore supported the concept of a link existing between type-2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease. These findings will be instrumental for rational design of drug candidates for both of these conditions.

Traceless chemical ligation from S-, O-, and N-acyl isopeptides.

Peptides are ubiquitous in nature where they play crucial roles as catalysts (enzymes), cell membrane ion transporters, and structural elements (proteins) within biological systems. In addition, both linear and cyclic peptides have found use as pharmaceuticals and components of various conjugate molecular systems. Small wonder then that chemists throughout the ages have sought to mimic nature by synthesis of the amide polymers known as peptides and proteins.

Synthesis, bioassay, and molecular field topology analysis of diverse vasodilatory heterocycles.

A diverse training set composed of 76 in-house synthesized and 61 collected from the literature was subjected to molecular field topology analysis. This resulted in a high-quality quantitative structure-activity relationships model (R² = 0.932, Q² = 0.

Promising Aedes aegypti repellent chemotypes identified through integrated QSAR, virtual screening, synthesis, and bioassay.

Molecular field topology analysis, scaffold hopping, and molecular docking were used as complementary computational tools for the design of repellents for Aedes aegypti, the insect vector for yellow fever, chikungunya, and dengue fever. A large number of analogues were evaluated by virtual screening with Glide molecular docking software. This produced several dozen hits that were either synthesized or procured from commercial sources.

Oxyazapeptides: synthesis, structure determination, and conformational analysis.

Herein we report the synthesis, X-ray structure determination, and conformational analysis of a novel class of heteroatom-modified peptidomimetics, which we shall call "oxyazapeptides". Substituting the typical native N-C(α) bond with an O-N(α) bond creates a completely new, previously unknown family of peptidomimetics, which are hydrolytically stable and display very interesting conformational behavior. Force field calculations revealed that the barrier to rotation around the O-N(α) bond in oxyazapeptides is five times lower than that around the N-N(α) bond in azapeptides.

Similarity analysis, synthesis, and bioassay of antibacterial cyclic peptidomimetics.

The chemical similarity of antibacterial cyclic peptides and peptidomimetics was studied in order to identify new promising cyclic scaffolds. A large descriptor space coupled with cluster analysis was employed to digitize known antibacterial structures and to gauge the potential of new peptidomimetic macrocycles, which were conveniently synthesized by acylbenzotriazole methodology. Some of the synthesized compounds were tested against an array of microorganisms and showed antibacterial activity against Bordetella bronchistepica, Micrococcus luteus, and Salmonella typhimurium.

Study of chemical ligation via 17-, 18- and 19-membered cyclic transition states.

Unprotected S-acylated cysteine isopeptides containing α-, β- or γ-amino acid units have been synthesized, and their conversion to native hexapeptides by S- to the N-terminus ligations involving 17-, 18- and 19-membered cyclic transition states have been demonstrated both experimentally and computationally to be more favorable than intermolecular cross-ligations.

Traceless chemical ligations from O-acyl serine sites.

Chemical ligation via O- to N-acyl transfer of O-acylated serine containing peptides affords serine containing native peptides via 8- and 11-membered cyclic transition states opening the door to a wide variety of potential applications to peptide elaboration. The feasibility of these traceless chemical ligations is feasible as supported by computation.

The SOA formation model combined with semiempirical quantum chemistry for predicting UV-Vis absorption of secondary organic aerosols.

A new model for predicting the UV-visible absorption spectra of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) has been developed. The model consists of two primary parts: a SOA formation model and a semiempirical quantum chemistry method. The mass of SOA is predicted using the PHRCSOA (Partitioning Heterogeneous Reaction Consortium Secondary Organic Aerosol) model developed by Cao and Jang [Environ.

Cu(I)-catalyzed regioselective synthesis of pyrazolo[5,1-c]-1,2,4-triazoles.

Cycloadditions of terminal alkynes to 1,2,4-triazolium N-imides in the presence of base and Cu(I) afford pyrazolo[5,1-c]-1,2,4-triazoles regioselectively. The scope of alkynes, the influence of the electronic nature of the leaving group, and variations in the 1-alkyl substituent were examined. Quantum chemical calculations were employed to explain the distinct reactivity of the propiolates.

Computer-assisted rational design, synthesis, and bioassay of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents.

A focused dataset of previously synthesized and tested [1,2,4]-triazolo[1,5-a]pyridines and pyridine-3-carboxylates was studied by Molecular Field Topology Analysis (MFTA) to identify steric and electronic determinants of anti-inflammatory activity useful for the design and synthesis of new anti-inflammatory agents. Rational design based on the MFTA model identified eleven novel pyridine-3-carboxylates (2a-e and 3a-f) as promising. After synthesis and screening, three of (2a, 2c, 3a) revealed potent anti-inflammatory activity exceeding that of indomethacin, the reference inhibitor for artificially induced edema in rats.

Long-range intramolecular S → N acyl migration: a study of the formation of native peptide analogues via 13-, 15-, and 16-membered cyclic transition states.

The intramolecular long-range S → N acyl migration via 13-, 15-, and 16-membered cyclic transition states to form native tetra- and pentapeptide analogues was studied on S-acylcysteine peptides containing β- or γ-amino acids. The pH-dependency study of the acyl migration via a 15-membered cyclic transition state indicated that the reaction is favored at a pH range from 7.0 to 7.

Prediction of gas solubilities in ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids (of which it is estimated that there are at least one million simple fluids) generate a rich chemical space, which is now just at the beginning of its systematic exploration. Many properties of ionic liquids are truly unique and, which is more important, can be finely tuned. Differential solubility of industrial chemicals in ionic liquids is particularly interesting, because it can be a basis for novel, efficient, environmentally friendly technologies.

Alternating chemical ligation reactivity of S-acyl peptides explained with theory and computations.

Previously discovered alternating reactivity of S-acyl di-, tri-, and tetrapeptide in internal chemical ligation reactions is rationalised using conformational search, virtual screening methods and quantum chemical calculations. Conformational preorganisation is shown to be the major controller of reactivity, with hydrogen bonding providing additional stabilisation for the tetrapeptide structure.

Ab initio parameterization of YFF1, a universal force field for drug-design applications.

The YFF1 is a new universal molecular mechanic force field designed for drug discovery purposes. The electrostatic part of YFF1 has already been parameterized to reproduce ab initio calculated dipole and quadrupole moments. Now we report a parameterization of the van der Waals interactions (vdW) for the same atom types that were previously defined.

General Purpose Electronegativity Relaxation Charge Models Applied to CoMFA and CoMSIA Study of GSK-3 Inhibitors.

Two fast empirical charge models, Kirchhoff Charge Model (KCM) and Dynamic Electronegativity Relaxation (DENR), had been developed in our laboratory previously for widespread use in drug design research. Both models are based on the electronegativity relaxation principle (Adv. Quantum Chem.

Chlorometallate(III) ionic liquids as Lewis acidic catalysts--a quantitative study of acceptor properties.

The Gutmann Acceptor Number (AN), which is a quantitative measure of Lewis acidity, has been estimated using the (31)P NMR chemical shift of a probe molecule, triethylphosphine oxide, for a range of chlorometallate(III) ionic liquids, based on Group 13 metals (aluminium(III), gallium(III) and indium(III)) and the 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium cation, at different compositions. The results were interpreted in terms of extant speciation studies of chlorometallate(III) ionic liquids, and compared with a range of standard molecular solvents and acids. The value of these data were illustrated in terms of the selection of appropriate ionic liquids for specific applications.

New developments in hydrogen bonding acidity and basicity of small organic molecules for the prediction of physical and ADMET properties. Part 2. The universal solvation equation.

Theoretical quantifications of hydrogen bonding (HB) basicities and acidities, originally developed for aliphatic systems (J. Chem. Inf.

Kirchhoff atomic charges fitted to multipole moments: implementation for a virtual screening system.

The Kirchhoff charge model is a viable method of generating inexpensive and electrostatically reasonable atomic charges for molecular mechanical force fields. The charging method uses a computationally fast algorithm based on the principle of electronegativity relaxation. Parameters of the method, orbital electronegativities and hardnesses, are fitted to reproduce reference, ab initio calculated dipole and quadrupole moments of a representative training set of neutral and charged organic molecules covering most medicinal chemistry relevant bonding situations.

Search for improved host architectures: application of de novo structure-based design and high-throughput screening methods to identify optimal building blocks for multidentate ethers.

This paper presents a computational approach to the deliberate design of improved host architectures. The approach, which involves the use of computer-aided design software, is illustrated by application to cation hosts containing multiple aliphatic ether oxygen binding sites. De novo molecule building software, HostDesigner, is interfaced with molecular mechanics software, GMMX, providing a tool for generating and screening millions of potential bidentate building block structures.

Theoretical scales of hydrogen bond acidity and basicity for application in QSAR/QSPR studies and drug design. Partitioning of aliphatic compounds.

Phenomenological analysis of existing hydrogen bond (HB) donor and acceptor scales and apparent physical considerations have enabled the establishment of new quantitative scales of hydrogen bond basicity and acidity. Chemical structures represented by molecular graphs and the orbital electronegativities of Hinze and Jaffe are utilized as an input data. The scales obtained correlate well with several experimental solvent polarity scales such as and, pK(HB), and E(T)(30).