Publications by authors named "Massimo Luigi Capobianco"

Herein we report a study on the synthesis and biological evaluation of a library of nucleoside-bile acid conjugates prepared by combining 2'-deoxyadenosine, 2'-deoxyguanosine, 2'-deoxyuridine as well as adenosine and guanosine derivatives with cheno-, urso-, -cheno-, -urso- and taurourso-desoxycholic acid derivatives by means of the click reaction. The new nucleoside-bile acid conjugates incorporating a triazole moiety were tested in vitro against leukemic K562 and HCT116 colon carcinoma, as well as on normal fibroblast cells. Six compounds displayed interesting anti-proliferative activity against the selected cancer lines and no cytotoxic effects against normal fibroblasts.

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The synthesis and properties of (5')TA(3')-t5 (8a) and (5')CG(3')-t5 (8b) conjugates, in which the self-complementary dinucleotides TA and CG are covalently bound to the central ring of alpha-quinquethiophene (t5), are described. According to molecular mechanics calculations, the preferred conformation of both 8a and 8b is that with the dinucleotide folded over the planar t5 backbone, with the nucleobases facing t5 at stacking distance. The calculations show that the aggregation process of 8a and 8b is driven by a mix of nucleobase-thiophene interactions, hydrogen bonding between nucleobases (non Watson-Crick (W&C) in TA, and W&C in CG), van der Waals, and electrostatic interactions.

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Quaterthiophene-dinucleotide conjugates 5'TA3'-t4-3'AT5', 5'AA3'-t4-3'AA5', and 5'TT3'-t4-3'TT5' (TA: thymidine-adenosine, AA: adenosine-adenosine, TT: thymidine-thymidine) were synthesized and analyzed by a combination of spectroscopy and microscopy, electrical characterization, and theoretical calculations. Circular dichroism (CD) experiments demonstrated a transfer of chirality from the dinucleotides to quaterthiophene at high ionic strength and in cast films. The films were photoluminescent and electroactive.

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