Publications by authors named "Mara Di Filippo"

Multi-drug resistant bacterial strains (MDR) have become an increasing challenge to our health system, resulting in multiple classical antibiotics being clinically inactive today. As the de-novo development of effective antibiotics is a very costly and time-consuming process, alternative strategies such as the screening of natural and synthetic compound libraries is a simple approach towards finding new lead compounds. We thus report on the antimicrobial evaluation of a small collection of fourteen drug-like compounds featuring indazoles, pyrazoles and pyrazolines as key heterocyclic moieties whose synthesis was achieved in continuous flow mode.

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A highly regioselective route to complex carbocyclic scaffolds through a continuous photochemical process is reported. Crucially, we uncovered that substitutents on the right-hand aryl ring are placed away from a transient carbene species which induces the exclusive regioselectivity observed. By varying the non-symmetrically substituted aryl moiety, we demonstrate how the product outcome favors cyclobutenes for electron-poor and neutral substituents and cycloheptatrienes for more electron-rich systems.

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Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water-soluble synthetic vinyl polymer with remarkable physical properties including thermostability and viscosity. Its biodegradability, however, is low even though a large amount of PVA is released into the environment. Established physical-chemical degradation methods for PVA have several disadvantages such as high price, low efficiency, and secondary pollution.

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The application of a dual reactor coil for consecutive photochemical reactions is presented in continuous flow mode. This strategy enables for the first time the use of a single LED-based light source to perform two distinct photochemical reactions in an uninterrupted fashion. This approach is demonstrated for the telescoped synthesis and functionalisation of drug-like quinolines and compared to alternatives exploiting two photochemical reactor set-ups operated in sequence.

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Continuous flow chemistry is by now an established and valued synthesis technology regularly exploited in academic and industrial laboratories to bring about the improved preparation of a variety of molecular structures. Benefits such as better heat and mass transfer, improved process control and safety, a small equipment footprint, as well as the ability to integrate in-line analysis and purification tools into telescoped sequences are often cited when comparing flow to analogous batch processes. In this short review, the latest developments regarding the exploitation of continuous flow protocols towards the synthesis of anticancer drugs are evaluated.

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Herein we report the discovery of a new photochemical cascade process through a flow-based strategy for intercepting diradicals generated from simple alkenes. This continuous process delivers a series of unprecedented polycyclic reaction products. Exploring the scope of this novel process revealed that this approach is general and affords a variety of structurally complex reaction products in high yields (up to 81%), short reaction times (7 min) and high throughputs (up to 5.

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Multi-functionalization of calcium phosphates to get delivery systems of therapeutic agents is gaining increasing relevance for the development of functional biomaterials aimed to solve problems related to disorders of the muscolo-skeletal system. In this regard, we functionalized Strontium substituted hydroxyapatite (SrHA) with some β-lactam integrin agonists to develop materials with enhanced properties in promoting cell adhesion and activation of intracellular signaling as well as in counteracting abnormal bone resorption. For this purpose, we selected two monocyclic β-lactams on the basis of their activities towards specific integrins on promoting cell adhesion and signalling.

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An efficient continuous photochemical process is presented that delivers a series of novel γ-aminopropylsulfones via a tetrabutylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) catalysed HAT-process. Crucial to this success is the exploitation of a new high-power LED emitting at 365 nm that was found to be superior to an alternative medium-pressure Hg lamp. The resulting flow process enabled the scale-up of this transformation reaching throughputs of 20 mmol h-1 at substrate concentrations up to 500 mM.

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The last decade has witnessed a remarkable development towards improved and new photochemical transformations in response to greener and more sustainable chemical synthesis needs. Additionally, the availability of modern continuous flow reactors has enabled widespread applications in view of more streamlined and custom designed flow processes. In this focused review article, we wish to evaluate the standing of the field of continuous flow photochemistry with a specific emphasis on the generation of bioactive entities, including natural products, drugs and their precursors.

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