Natural Anticancer Agents: Their Therapeutic Potential, Challenges,s and Promising Outcomes.

Cancer, the second leading cause of death worldwide, is a major health problem. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are current treatments for cancer. Most anticancer drugs have severe toxic effects and are required to be administered in cycles to reduce toxicity and prevent resistance.

Green Recipes for Pyrimidine.

Pyrimidines serve as key structural components in chemical frameworks and biological processes. Several pyrimidine analogues have been produced over the years by means of traditional methods that necessitated large amounts of solvents, reagents, and, most importantly, additional time, which has led them to become prohibitive. These procedures are now being replaced with more cost-effective adaptive methodologies that incorporate one-pot synthesis and greener approaches involving various green solvents and catalysts.

Conformation of the cecropin-melittin hybrid, cecropin A(1-8)-melittin (1-18) antibacterial Peptide.

Cecropin A (1-8)-Melittin (1-18) is a synthetic cecropin A-melittin hybrid peptide with leishmanicidal activity. The primary sequence of the peptide is as follows: KWKLPKKIGIGAVLKVLTTGLPALIS-NH2. 1H and 13C 2D NMR techniques were used to deduce the conformational parameters of chemical shift, 3JNHalpha coupling constants, temperature coefficients of NH chemical shifts and the pattern of intra and inter-residue nOe's.

An antiparallel beta-sheet and a beta-turn characterize the structure of antiviral HIV-1 peptide T140, as revealed by 2D NMR and MD Simulations.

The polyphemusins present in the hemocytes of the horsechoe crab and their structurally modified analogs have been shown to exhibit activity against HIV-1. Among the many variants, T22 ([Tyr(5,12), Lys(7)]-polyphemusin II), and its shorter and more potent analog, T140 [Arg(1)-Arg-2-Nal-Cys-Tyr(5)-Arg-Lys-D-Lys-Pro-Tyr(10)-Arg-Cit-Cys-Arg(14)] (Polyphemusin II-derived peptide), affect the HIV-cell fusion process and inhibit the T-cell line-tropic (T-tropic) HIV-1 infection. Conformational studies of polyphemusin II derived peptide have been carried out by (1)H and (13)C 2D-NMR and MD simulations in water and HFA (40%).