Electrochemical Bottom-Up Synthesis of Chiral Carbon Dots from L-Proline and Their Application as Nano-Organocatalysts in a Stereoselective Aldol Reaction.

Chirality is undoubtedly a fundamental property of nature since the different interactions of optically active molecules in a chiral environment are essential for numerous applications. Thus, in the field of asymmetric synthesis, the search for efficient, sustainable, cost-effective and recyclable chiral catalysts is still the main challenge in organic chemistry. The field of carbon dots (CDs) has experienced tremendous development in the last 15 years, including their applications as achiral catalysts.

Design, Synthesis, and In Vitro, In Silico and In Cellulo Evaluation of New Pyrimidine and Pyridine Amide and Carbamate Derivatives as Multi-Functional Cholinesterase Inhibitors.

Alzheimer disease is an age-linked neurodegenerative disorder representing one of the greatest medical care challenges of our century. Several drugs are useful in ameliorating the symptoms, even if none could stop or reverse disease progression. The standard approach is represented by the cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) that restore the levels of acetylcholine (ACh) by inhibiting the acetylcholinesterase (AChE).

Synthesis and Evaluation of the Antifungal and Toxicological Activity of Nitrofuran Derivatives.

Fungal diseases affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. The constant global changes, the advent of new pandemics, and chronic diseases favor the diffusion of fungal pathogens such as , , , , and . In this work, a series of nitrofuran derivatives were synthesized and tested against different fungal species; most of them showed inhibitory activity, fungicide, and fungistatic profile.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of iron and copper chelating deferiprone derivatives as new agents active against Candida albicans.

Candida albicans, in specific conditions, is responsible of severe invasive systemic candidiasis that are related to its ability to produce biofilm on biological and artificial surfaces. Many studies reported the role of iron in fungal growth and virulence and the ability of metal chelating agents to interfere with C. albicans metabolism, virulence and biofilm formation.

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease - a patent review (2016-present).

- AD, the most common form of dementia, has a multifactorial etiology, and the current therapy (AChEIs and memantine) is unable to interrupt its progress and fatal outcome. This is reflected in the research programs that are oriented toward the development of new therapeutics able to operate on multiple targets involved in the disease progression. - The patents from 2016 to present regarding the use of AChEIs in AD, concerns the development of new AChEIs, multitarget or multifunctional ligands, or the associations of currently used AChEIs with other compounds acting on different targets involved in the AD.

New deferiprone derivatives as multi-functional cholinesterase inhibitors: design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation.

In order to obtain multi-functional molecules for Alzheimer's disease, a series of deferiprone derivatives has been synthesized and evaluated in vitro with the hypothesis that they can restore the cholinergic tone and attenuate the dyshomeostasis of the metals mainly involved in the pathology. These compounds were designed as dual binding site AChE inhibitors: they possess an arylalkylamine moiety connected via an alkyl chain to a 3-hydroxy-4-pyridone fragment, to allow the simultaneous interaction with catalytic active site (CAS) and peripheral anionic site (PAS) of the enzyme. Deferiprone moiety and 2-aminopyridine, 2-aminopyrimidine or 2,4-diaminopyrimidine groups have been incorporated into these compounds, in order to obtain molecules potentially able to chelate bio-metals colocalized in Aβ plaques and involved in the generation of radical species.

Synthesis and characterization of new D-π-A and A-π-D-π-A type oligothiophene derivatives.

In this work, we present a series of newly synthesized conjugated oligothiophene derivatives, with different numbers of central thiophene units, and different donor/acceptor architectures. Electrochemical and spectroscopic data have also been reported. We used thiophene or bithiophene as central donor core units, 3-octylthiophenes as π-bridge and solubilizing sub-units, and ethyl cyanoacetate or rhodanine moieties as acceptor end groups, in order to get D-π-A and A-π-D-π-A molecular architectures.

Searching for new agents active against Candida albicans biofilm: A series of indole derivatives, design, synthesis and biological evaluation.

Candida albicans biofilm represents a major clinical problem due to its intrinsic tolerance to anti-fungal compounds and it has been highly related to infections in catheterized patients. Few compounds are described as able to inhibit biofilm formation or to interfere with preformed biofilm of C. albicans.

NHC in Imidazolium Acetate Ionic Liquids: Actual or Potential Presence?

Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered in the majority of cases green solvents, due to their virtually null vapor pressure and to the easiness in recycling them. In particular, imidazolium ILs are widely used in many fields of Chemistry, as solvents or precursors of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). The latter are easily obtained by deprotonation of the C2-H, usually using strong bases or cathodic reduction.

Structure-guided approach identifies a novel class of HIV-1 ribonuclease H inhibitors: binding mode insights through magnesium complexation and site-directed mutagenesis studies.

Persistent HIV infection requires lifelong treatment and among the 2.1 million new HIV infections that occur every year there is an increased rate of transmitted drug-resistant mutations. This fact requires a constant and timely effort in order to identify and develop new HIV inhibitors with innovative mechanisms.

Electrochemically modified Corey-Fuchs reaction for the synthesis of arylalkynes. The case of 2-(2,2-dibromovinyl)naphthalene.

The electrochemical reduction of 2-(2,2-dibromovinyl)naphthalene in a DMF solution (Pt cathode) yields selectively 2-ethynylnaphthalene or 2-(bromoethynyl)naphthalene in high yields, depending on the electrolysis conditions. In particular, by simply changing the working potential and the supporting electrolyte, the reaction can be directed towards the synthesis of the terminal alkyne (EtNBF) or the bromoalkyne (NaClO). This study allowed to establish that 2-(bromoethynyl)naphthalene can be converted into 2-ethynylnaphthalene by cathodic reduction.

New pyridine derivatives as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase and amyloid aggregation.

A new series of pyridine derivatives with carbamic or amidic function has been designed and synthesized to act as cholinesterase inhibitors. The synthesized compounds were tested toward EeAChE and hAChE and toward eqBChE and hBChE. The carbamate 8 was the most potent hAChE inhibitor (IC = 0.

Inhibition of the α-carbonic anhydrase from Vibrio cholerae with amides and sulfonamides incorporating imidazole moieties.

We discovered novel and selective sulfonamides/amides acting as inhibitors of the α-carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.

Exploring the anti-biofilm activity of cinnamic acid derivatives in Candida albicans.

Some compounds, characterized by phenylethenyl moiety, such as methyl cinnamate and caffeic acid phenethyl ester, are able to inhibit C. albicans biofilm formation. On these bases, and as a consequence of our previous work, we synthesized a series of cinnamoyl ester and amide derivatives in order to evaluate them for the activity against C.

New N,N-dimethylcarbamate inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase: design synthesis and biological evaluation.

A series of N,N-dimethylcarbamates containing a N,N-dibenzylamino moiety was synthesized and tested to evaluate their ability to inhibit Acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The most active compounds 4 and 8, showed 85 and 69% of inhibition at 50 μM, respectively. Furthermore, some basic SAR rules were outlined: an alkyl linker of six methylene units is the best spacer between the carbamoyl and dibenzylamino moieties; electron-withdrawal substituents on aromatics rings of the dibenzylamino group reduce the inhibitory power.

Discovery of in vitro antitubercular agents through in silico ligand-based approaches.

The development of new anti-tubercular agents represents a constant challenge mostly due to the insurgency of resistance to the currently available drugs. In this study, a set of 60 molecules were selected by screening the Asinex and the ZINC collections and an in house library by means of in silico ligand-based approaches. Biological assays in Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra ATCC 25177 strain highlighted (±)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethyl-4-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate (5i) and 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(2,4-dimethylpyrimidin-5-yl)-2-methylpyrazolo[1.

In vitro screening of 2-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)-1-phenylethanol derivatives as antiprotozoal agents and docking studies on Trypanosoma cruzi CYP51.

Sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) is a key enzyme involved in the survival and virulence of many parasite protozoa, such as Trypanosoma and Leishmania species, thus representing a valuable drug target for the treatment of Kinetoplastid diseases. A set of azole-based compounds selected from an in-house compound library was in vitro screened against different human protozoan parasites. Several compounds showed selective activity against Trypanosoma cruzi, with compound 7 being the most active (IC50 = 40 nM).

Synthesis, biological evaluation and structure-activity correlation study of a series of imidazol-based compounds as Candida albicans inhibitors.

A new series of 2-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)-1-phenylethanol derivatives was synthesized. The antifungal activity was evaluated in vitro against different fungal species. The biological results show that the most active compounds possess an antifungal activity comparable or higher than Fluconazole against Candida albicans, non-albicans Candida species, Cryptococcus neoformans and dermathophytes.

Activity of caffeic acid derivatives against Candida albicans biofilm.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the caffeic acid (1) and ester derivatives (2-10) against Candida albicans biofilm and to investigate whether these compounds are able to inhibit the biofilm formation or destroy pre-formed biofilm. Caffeic acid ester 7, cinnamic acid ester 8 and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid ester 10 are more active than fluconazole, used as reference drug, both on biofilm in formation with MIC50 values of 32, 32 and 16μg/mL, respectively, and in the early stage of biofilm formation (4h) with MIC50 values of 64, 32 and 64μg/mL, respectively. These esters result also more active than fluconazole on mature biofilm (24h), especially 8 and 10 with MIC50 values of 64μg/mL.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid derivatives as antioxidants, bio-metal chelating agents and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.

Metal ions, especially copper, zinc and iron, play an important role in the neurodegeneration process because they can affect protein misfolding, leading to the formation of the amyloid deposits and oxidative stress leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here we report the synthesis and evaluation as antioxidant and metal chelating agents of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid derivatives. Synthesized compounds were tested by the 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method showing a radical scavenging ability (EC50=0.