The discovery of potentially active diterpenoids to inhibit the pyroptosis from Callicarpa arborea.

Pyroptosis is a programmed-inflammatory cell death, which leads to release of inflammatory cellular contents and formation of inflammation. Uncontrollable pyroptosis can result in serious immune diseases, such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), sepsis, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and acute organ damage, including acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute kidney injury (AKI). Members of the Callicarpa genus are significant raw materials for traditional Chinese medicine, widely used for analgesia, hemostasis, and anti-inflammation.

Synthesis and anti-inflammatory evaluation of new chalcone derivatives bearing bispiperazine linker as IL-1β inhibitors.

In this work, a series of novel chalcone derivatives bearing bispiperazine linker have been synthesized and in vitro anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic activity and anti-inflammatory mechanism have been screened. The results indicated that most bispiperazinochalcone derivatives displayed good inhibition of NO (IC < 20 μM) and low cytotoxicity (CC > 40 μM), and selectively inhibited the production of IL-1β via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation, as promising candidate compounds for the treatment of NLRP3 inflammasome-driven diseases.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Heterocyclic Substituted Bis(indolyl)methanes.

Background: Bis(indolyl)methane derivatives are widely found in nature with a broad range of biological and pharmacological activities. The development of techniques for the synthesis and functionalization of bis(indolyl)methanes have attracted more and more attention in recent years.

Objective: To study the synthesis and biological activity of heterocyclic substituted bis(indolyl)methanes.

2-Benzoylbenzofuran derivatives possessing piperazine linker as anticancer agents.

A series of novel 2-benzoylbenzofuran derivatives possessing piperazine linker have been prepared, and their in vitro anticancer activity against a panel of human tumor cell lines by MTT assay were evaluated. The results demonstrated that tertiary amine derivatives exhibited better cytotoxic activity, and SAR study revealed that electron-donating substituents on the phenyl ring of the derivatization functionality contributed to potent anticancer activities. Among them, compounds 6, 9, 11, 18, 23 and 25 displayed both better anti-tumor activity and lower cytotoxic effect on human normal liver cell L02.