Reaction of benzoxanthene lignans with peroxyl radicals in polar and non-polar media: cooperative behaviour of OH groups.

Benzo[kl]xanthene lignans, promising bioactive polyphenols obtained by biomimetic oxidative coupling of caffeic acid derivatives, react efficiently with peroxyl radicals in both polar and non-polar solvents, thanks to the simultaneous presence of guaiacol-like and catechol-like OH-groups.

Phenethyl caffeate benzo[kl]xanthene lignan with DNA interacting properties induces DNA damage and apoptosis in colon cancer cells.

Aims: Phenethyl caffeate benzoxanthene lignan (PCBL) is a synthetic compound with DNA interacting, antiangiogenic, antiproliferative and tumor cell death inducing abilities. Though PCBL exhibits the qualities of a prospective antitumor agent, the basic mechanism of PCBL induced cell death remains unknown. This study aims to analyze the molecular mechanisms of PCBL induced cell death in tumor cells to further substantiate its antitumor abilities.

Kinetics of the oxidation of quercetin by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (dpph•).

In methanol/water, dpph(•) bleaching (519 nm) by quercetin, QH(2), exhibits biphasic kinetics. The dpph(•) reacts completely with the quercetin anion within 100 ms. Subsequent slower bleaching involves solvent and QH(2) addition to quinoid products.

Structural basis for the potential antitumour activity of DNA-interacting benzo[kl]xanthene lignans.

The biological properties and possible pharmacological applications of benzo[kl]xanthene lignans, rare among natural products and synthetic compounds, are almost unexplored. In the present contribution, the possible interaction of six synthetic benzo[kl]xanthene lignans and the natural metabolite rufescidride with DNA has been investigated through a combined STD-NMR and molecular docking approach, paralleled by in vitro biological assays on their antiproliferative activity towards two different cancer cell lines: SW 480 and HepG2. Our data suggest that the benzo[kl]xanthene lignans are suitable lead compounds for the design of DNA selective ligands with potential antitumour properties.

Antiangiogenic properties of an unusual benzo[k,l]xanthene lignan derived from CAPE (caffeic acid phenethyl ester).

Angiogenesis is normally a highly regulated process that occurs during development, reproduction, and wound repair. However, angiogenesis can also become a fundamental pathogenic process in cancer and several other diseases. To date, the synthesis of angiogenesis inhibitors has been researched in several ways also starting from bioactive plant compounds.

Influence of "remote" intramolecular hydrogen bonds on the stabilities of phenoxyl radicals and benzyl cations.

Remote intramolecular hydrogen bonds (HBs) in phenols and benzylammonium cations influence the dissociation enthalpies of their O-H and C-N bonds, respectively. The direction of these intramolecular HBs, para --> meta or meta --> para, determines the sign of the variation with respect to molecules lacking remote intramolecular HBs. For example, the O-H bond dissociation enthalpy of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenol, 4, is about 2.

Reaction of phenols with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical. Kinetics and DFT calculations applied to determine ArO-H bond dissociation enthalpies and reaction mechanism.

The formal H-atom abstraction by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (dpph(*)) radical from 27 phenols and two unsaturated hydrocarbons has been investigated by a combination of kinetic measurements in apolar solvents and density functional theory (DFT). The computed minimum energy structure of dpph(*) shows that the access to its divalent N is strongly hindered by an ortho H atom on each of the phenyl rings and by the o-NO(2) groups of the picryl ring. Remarkably small Arrhenius pre-exponential factors for the phenols [range (1.

A meta effect in nonphotochemical processes: the homolytic chemistry of m-methoxyphenol.

The m-methoxy group is normally electron-withdrawing (EW), sigma(m) = +0.12, sigma(m+) = +0.05.

Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for the equilibrium reactions of phenols with the dpph. radical.

The kinetics and energetics of the reversible reaction of phenols with the dpph. radical have been studied; steric shielding of the divalent N by the o-NO2 in dpph. seems to be the main cause of the entropic barriers of this reaction.

Electron-transfer reaction of cinnamic acids and their methyl esters with the DPPH(*) radical in alcoholic solutions.

The kinetic behavior of cinnamic acids, their methyl esters, and two catechols 1-10 (ArOH) in the reaction with DPPH(*) in methanol and ethanol is not compatible with a reaction mechanism that involves hydrogen atom abstraction from the hydroxyl group of 1-10 by DPPH(*). The rate of this reaction at 25 degrees C is, in fact, comparatively fast despite that the phenolic OH group of ArOH is hydrogen bonded to solvent molecules. The observed rate constants (k(1)) relative to DPPH(*) + ArOH are 3-5 times larger for the methyl esters than for the corresponding free acids and, for the latter, decrease as their concentration is increased according to the relation k(1) = B/[ArOH](0)(m), where k(1) is given in units of M(-1) s(-1), m is ca.