Laboratory of Molecular Modeling, Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Lavras, Lavras/MG, 37200-000, Brazil.
Published: April 2019
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
The brain has a unique biological complexity and is responsible for important functions in the human body, such as the command of cognitive and motor functions. Disruptive disorders that affect this organ, e.g. neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), can lead to permanent damage, impairing the patients' quality of life and even causing death. In spite of their clinical diversity, these NDDs share common characteristics, such as the accumulation of specific proteins in the cells, the compromise of the metal ion homeostasis in the brain, among others. Despite considerable advances in understanding the mechanisms of these diseases and advances in the development of treatments, these disorders remain uncured. Considering the diversity of mechanisms that act in NDDs, a wide range of compounds have been developed to act by different means. Thus, promising compounds with contrasting properties, such as chelating agents and metal-based drugs have been proposed to act on different molecular targets as well as to contribute to the same goal, which is the treatment of NDDs. This review seeks to discuss the different roles and recent developments of metal-based drugs, such as metal complexes and metal chelating agents as a proposal for the treatment of NDDs.
A mixed-ligand-based thermo-chemically robust and undulated metal-organic framework (MOF) is developed that embraces carboxamide moiety-grafted porous channels and activation-induced generation of open-metal site (OMS). The guest-free MOF acts as an outstanding heterogeneous catalyst in Hantzsch condensation for electronically assorted substrates with low catalyst loading and short duration under greener conditions than the reported materials. Besides Lewis acidic OMS, the carboxamide group activates the substrate via two-point hydrogen bonding, highlighting the effectiveness of custom-made functionalities in this multi-component reaction.
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