Biochemical Nanotubes Containing Heterocycles as Artificial Strands for Pseudo Duplex and Triplex DNA Formation.

This report presents our discoveries that include the successful hybridization of grafted single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with dsDNA to form pseudo triplex-DNA. These tubes are attached with distinctive five-membered N-containing heterocycles (i.e.

Generation of Quaternary Carbons in Cycloalkanones and Lactones with Arynes through a Domino Process.

A synthetic method was developed for the generation of a quaternary carbon center in carbonyl compounds. This innovative process involved the reaction of α-thiolate lactones and cycloalkanones with two equivalents of arynes in acetonitrile to give α,α-diarylated products in 63-85% yields at 25 °C. The reaction unfolds through an unconventional domino process, encompassing sequential 1,2-elimination, 1,2-nucleophilic addition, 1,4-proton transfer, the second 1,2-nucleophilic addition, interrupted Pummerer rearrangement, intramolecular spirocyclization, and sulfonium ring-opening.

β-d-Ribofuranose as a Core with a Phosphodiester Moiety as the Enzyme Recognition Site for Codrug Development.

An ideal codrug design should be able to control drug release, offer selectivity during drug delivery, and break down into non-toxic fragments after biodegradation. Our design incorporates d-ribofuranose as the core, with carbamate and carbonate groups as linking joints, a phosphodiester moiety as an enzyme recognition site, and lenalidomide and paclitaxel as the constituent drugs. The codrug synthesis involves seven steps with a 33% overall yield.

Diversity-Oriented Synthesis of a Molecular Library of Immunomodulatory α-Galactosylceramides with Fluorous-Tag-Assisted Purification and Evaluation of Their Bioactivities in Regard to IL-2 Secretion.

Structural variants of α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) that stimulate invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells constitute an emerging class of immunomodulatory agents in development for numerous biological applications. Variations in lipid chain length and/or fatty acids in these glycoceramides selectively trigger specific pro-inflammatory responses. Studies that would link a specific function to a structurally distinct α-GalCer rely heavily on the availability of homogeneous and pure materials.

Bis(Benzofuran-1,3-,-heterocycle)s as Symmetric and Synthetic Drug Leads against Yellow Fever Virus.

The yellow fever virus (YFV) is an emerging RNA virus and has caused large outbreaks in Africa and Central and South America. The virus is often transmitted through infected mosquitoes and spreads from area to area because of international travel. Being an acute viral hemorrhagic disease, yellow fever can be prevented by an effective, safe, and reliable vaccine, but not be eliminated.

Computer-Aided Design and Synthesis of (Functionalized quinazoline)-(α-substituted coumarin)-arylsulfonate Conjugates against Chikungunya Virus.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has repeatedly spread via the bite of an infected mosquito and affected more than 100 countries. The disease poses threats to public health and the economy in the infected locations. Many efforts have been devoted to identifying compounds that could inhibit CHIKV.

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Globo-series Glycosphingolipids and Evaluation of Their Immunosuppressive Activities.

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) play essential roles in many important biological processes, making them attractive synthetic targets. In this paper, a viable chemoenzymatic method is described for the synthesis of globo-series GSLs, namely, Gb4, Gb5, SSEA-4, and Globo H. The strategy uses a chemically synthesized lactoside acceptor equipped with a partial ceramide structure that is uniquely extended by glycosyltransferases in a highly efficient one-pot multiple enzyme (OPME) procedure.

Synthesis and antiviral activities of quinazolinamine-coumarin conjugates toward chikungunya and hepatitis C viruses.

Development of new drugs with broad-spectrum to combat RNA viruses would be beneficial to mankind but faces a great challenge. We designed and efficiently synthesized a series of quinazolin-4-amine-SCH-coumarin conjugated compounds. Our data of the virus-cell-based assay show five new conjugates inhibit chikungunya virus with EC values as potent as 1.

Enterovirus Inhibition by Hinged Aromatic Compounds with Polynuclei.

The modern world has no available drugs for the treatment of enteroviruses (EV), which affect millions of people worldwide each year. The EV71 is a major causative disease for hand, foot, and mouth disease; sometimes it is associated with severe central nervous system diseases. Treatment for enteroviral infection is mainly supportive; treatment for aseptic meningitis caused by enteroviruses is also generally symptomatic.

Domino Reaction for the Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles and Lamellarin R.

A three-component annulation reaction was developed for the synthesis of pyrroles, a class of compounds with various properties valuable to biomedical and polymer industries. Treatment of α-silylaryl triflates, Schiff bases, and alkynes generated polysubstituted pyrroles in good yields (61-86%) with regioselectivity. This domino reaction involved completion of five sequential steps in a single flask, which comprised aryne formation through 1,2-elimination, their alkylation by Schiff bases through 1,2-addition, 1,4-intramolecular proton transfer, Hüisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, and dehydrogenative aromatization.

A Modular Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Disialosyl Globopentaosylceramide (DSGb5Cer) Glycan.

The total synthesis of the oligosaccharide moiety of disialosyl globopentaosylceramide (DSGb5 Cer), a dominant ganglioside isolated from malignant renal cell carcinoma tissues, is reported. The synthetic strategy relies on a chemical α(2,6)-sialylation at the internal GalNAc unit of a Gb5 pentasaccharide backbone that furnishes a Neu5Acα(2,6)GalNAc-linked hexasaccharide, suitable for an enzymatic α(2,3)-sialylation of the terminal Gal residue to construct a heptasaccharide glycan. Convergent access to this key α(2,6)-sialylated hexasaccharide was also achieved through a [3+3] glycosylation building upon a Galβ(1,3)[Neu5Acα(2,6)]GalNAc-based trisaccharide donor and a Gb3 acceptor.

Structure-Activity Relationship of NF023 Derivatives Binding to XIAP-BIR1.

Inhibitors of Apoptosis Proteins (IAPs) are conserved E3-ligases that ubiquitylate substrates to prevent apoptosis and activate the NF-kB survival pathway, often deregulated in cancer. IAPs-mediated regulation of NF-kB signaling is based on the formation of protein complexes by their type-I BIR domains. The XIAP-BIR1 domain dimerizes to bind two TAB1 monomers, leading to downstream NF-kB activation.

Visible-light-driven copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidative cascade cyclization of N-tosylhydrazones and terminal alkynes: regioselective synthesis of 3-arylcoumarins.

We present the first example of sustainable, intuitive, highly regioselective, visible-light-driven copper catalyzed aerobic oxidative cascade cyclization of N-tosylhydrazones with terminal alkynes for the preparation of 3-arylcoumarins at room temperature. This operationally simple methodology has been successfully applied to a wide range of N-tosylhydrazones and alkynes (49 examples), and proceeds well to afford biologically active compounds, such as monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) inhibitor and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) inhibitor, in satisfactory yields under mild conditions. Furthermore, mechanistic studies suggest that the reaction proceeds via a copper(ii)-superoxo or -peroxo complex mediated oxidative annulation of terminal alkynes, as evidenced by 18O2 isotopic-labelling experiments.

Chikungunya virus inhibition by synthetic coumarin-guanosine conjugates.

Since its discovery in Tanganyika, Africa in 1952, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreaks have occurred in Africa, Asia, Europe, and America. Till now chikungunya fever has spread in nearly 40 countries. Because of lack of effective vaccines and antiviral drugs to intervene this disease, 21 new conjugated compounds were designed and synthesized by coupling of 6,8-dithioguanosine at its C-6 position with 3-(chloromethyl)coumarins bearing an F, Cl, Br, Me, or -OMe substituent through the -SCH- joint.

Synthetic switch to minimize CRISPR off-target effects by self-restricting Cas9 transcription and translation.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful genome editing system but uncontrolled Cas9 nuclease expression triggers off-target effects and even in vivo immune responses. Inspired by synthetic biology, here we built a synthetic switch that self-regulates Cas9 expression not only in the transcription step by guide RNA-aided self-cleavage of cas9 gene, but also in the translation step by L7Ae:K-turn repression system. We showed that the synthetic switch enabled simultaneous transcriptional and translational repression, hence stringently attenuating the Cas9 expression.

Synthetic switch-based baculovirus for transgene expression control and selective killing of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Baculovirus (BV) holds promise as a vector for anticancer gene delivery to combat the most common liver cancer-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, in vivo BV administration inevitably results in BV entry into non-HCC normal cells, leaky anticancer gene expression and possible toxicity. To improve the safety, we employed synthetic biology to engineer BV for transgene expression regulation.

Applications of Multi-Target Computer-Aided Methodologies in Molecular Design of CNS Drugs.

The discovery of drugs for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) faces high attrition rates in clinical trials. Neural diseases are extremely complex in nature and typically associated with multiple drug targets. A conception of multi-target directed ligands (MTDL), widely applied to the discovery of cancer pharmaceuticals, may be a perspective solution for CNS diseases.

Bis(benzofuran-thiazolidinone)s and bis(benzofuran-thiazinanone)s as inhibiting agents for chikungunya virus.

There are currently still no approved antiviral drugs to treat or prevent chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infections despite the fact that this arbovirus continues to cause outbreaks in Africa, Asia, and South- and Central-America. Thus 20 new conjugated compounds in the families of bis(benzofuran-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one)s and bis(benzofuran-1,3-thiazinan-4-one)s were designed based on the structural features of suramin. These new compounds were synthesized by chemical methods and their structures were confirmed spectroscopically.

Reductive Deamination by Benzyne for Deoxy Sugar Synthesis Through a Domino Reaction.

Benzyne was developed as a reducing agent in the key step of converting amino sugars and ketoses into deoxy sugars, which occur widely in natural products. Many deoxy sugars exhibit antibiotic and anticancer activities, and furthermore, they play essential biological roles. By treatment with CS and then AcO, amino sugars and ketoses were converted into the corresponding 1,3-thiazolidine-2-thiones.

Syntheses of Chroman-2-ones and α-Amino Acids through a Diastereoselective Domino Reaction.

Many 3-aminochroman-2-ones and β,β-diarylalanines exhibit significant biological activities. A new method was thus developed for the syntheses of these compounds with high efficiency and diastereoselectivity. First, treatment of various phenols with Erlenmeyer-Plochl (Z)-azlactones and AlCl in toluene produced the desired cis-3-aminochroman-2-ones in 65-90% yields under kinetic control.

Synthesis of an S-Linked α(2→8) GD3 Antigen and Evaluation of the Immunogenicity of Its Glycoconjugate.

Replacing the interglycosidic oxygen atom of oligosaccharides with a nonhydrolyzable sulfur atom has attracted significant interest because it provides opportunities for developing new glycoconjugate vaccines. Herein, a stereocontrolled and highly convergent method to synthesize a non-reducing-end inter-S-glycosidic variant of the GD3 antigen (S-linked α(2→8) GD3) that is resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis is reported. The key steps in the synthesis are a regio- and stereoselective α(2→3) sialylation of a lactoside acceptor with a C8-iodide-derivatized sialyl donor and an anomeric S-alkylation, which enable stereoselective construction of a terminal S-linked α(2→8) disialyl residue.

Na@SiO-Mediated Addition of Organohalides to Carbonyl Compounds for the Formation of Alcohols and Epoxides.

Alcohols and epoxides were generated by the addition of organohalides to carbonyl compounds in the presence of sodium metal impregnated with silica gel (Na@SiO) in THF at 25 °C through a radical pathway. Under the same conditions, Schiff bases were also successfully converted to the corresponding amines. Furthermore, the reaction of aldehydes with α-haloesters or 4-(chloromethyl)-coumarin with the aid of Na@SiO generated trans epoxides.

Copper(i)-catalysed oxidative C-N coupling of 2-aminopyridine with terminal alkynes featuring a C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C bond cleavage promoted by visible light.

Facile visible-light promoted copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidative C-N coupling between 2-aminopyridine and terminal alkynes at room temperature via C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C triple bond cleavage is described. This reaction allows direct synthesis of biologically important pyridyl amides by utilization of commercially available starting materials without the need for bases/external oxidants.