Extending the Scope of the -Functionalization of Cyclam via Copper(I)-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide Cycloaddition to Bifunctional Chelators of Interest.

Cyclam, known for its potent chelation properties, is explored for diverse applications through selective -functionalization, offering versatile ligands for catalysis, medical research, and materials science. The challenges arising from -alkylation, which could decrease the coordination properties, are addressed by introducing a robust -functionalization method. The facile two-step synthesis proposed here involves the click chemistry-based -functionalization of a hydroxyethyl cyclam derivative using Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC).

Trehalose-polyamine/DNA nanocomplexes: impact of vector architecture on cell and organ transfection selectivity.

A novel family of precision-engineered gene vectors with well-defined structures built on trehalose and trehalose-based macrocycles (cyclotrehalans) comprising linear or cyclic polyamine heads have been synthesized through procedures that exploit click chemistry reactions. The strategy was conceived to enable systematic structural variations and, at the same time, ensuring that enantiomerically pure vectors are obtained. Notably, changes in the molecular architecture translated into topological differences at the nanoscale upon co-assembly with plasmid DNA, especially regarding the presence of regions with short- or long-range internal order as observed by TEM.

Pharmacological Chaperones for the Treatment of α-Mannosidosis.

α-Mannosidosis (AM) results from deficient lysosomal α-mannosidase (LAMAN) activity and subsequent substrate accumulation in the lysosome, leading to severe pathology. Many of the AM-causative mutations compromise enzyme folding and could be rescued with purpose-designed pharmacological chaperones (PCs). We found that PCs combining a LAMAN glycone-binding motif based on the 5 N,6 O-oxomethylidenemannojirimycin (OMJ) glycomimetic core and different aglycones, in either mono- or multivalent displays, elicit binding modes involving glycone and nonglycone enzyme regions that reinforce the protein folding and stabilization potential.

The Impact of Heteromultivalency in Lectin Recognition and Glycosidase Inhibition: An Integrated Mechanistic Study.

The vision of multivalency as a strategy limited to achieve affinity enhancements between a protein receptor and its putative sugar ligand (glycotope) has proven too simplistic. On the one hand, binding of a glycotope in a dense glycocalix-like construct to a lectin partner has been shown to be sensitive to the presence of a third sugar entity (heterocluster effect). On the other hand, several carbohydrate processing enzymes (glycosidases and glycosyltransferases) have been found to be also responsive to multivalent presentations of binding partners (multivalent enzyme inhibition), a phenomenon first discovered for iminosugar-type inhibitory species (inhitopes) and recently demonstrated for multivalent carbohydrate constructs.

Trehalose-based Janus cyclooligosaccharides: the "Click" synthesis and DNA-directed assembly into pH-sensitive transfectious nanoparticles.

The convergent preparation of Janus molecular nanoparticles by thiourea-"clicking" of α,α'-trehalose halves has been implemented; the strategy allows access to macrocyclic derivatives with seggregated cationic and lipophilic domains that in the presence of DNA undergo pH-dependent self-assembly into lamellar superstructures, as established by electrochemical, structural (SAXS), microscopical (TEM) and computational techniques, that mediate transfection in vitro and in vivo.