Drug discovery based on the structure of FKBP12: Design, synthesis and evaluation of L-1,4-thiazane-3-carboxylic acid derivatives as neuroimmunophilin ligands

By choosing neuroimmunophilin FKBP12 as a therapeutical target, we have attempted to discover a new structural drug for treating neurodegenerative disease. This drug should possess neurotrophic activity and not affect the immune system. Based on the crystal structure of FKBP12, FK506 and Calcineurin complex, a series of small organic molecules were designed. These molecules were to have the ability of binding to FKBP12 in a virtual screening. By using a solution parallel synthetic method, these compounds were synthesized. The neuroprotective and neuroregenerative activities of these compounds were evaluated by binding assays, PC12 cells survival and neurite outgrowth model, chick dorsal root ganglion cultures (DRG) and 6-OHDA lesioned mice sympathetic nerve endings model. The evaluation results of these compounds showed that compound N308 has great promise as a candidate for a neuroprotective and neuroregenerative agent.

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Crystal Structure of One Novel 1-D Copper(Ⅱ)-organic Framework:{[Cu_2(PP)_2(CBPC)]_2·7H_2O}_n

One novel 1-D copper（Ⅱ）-organic compound,namely {[Cu2（PP）2（CBPC）]2·7H2O}n（1,H2CBPC=1-[（2＇-carboxybiphenyl-4-yl）methyl]-2-propylimidazole-4-carboxylic acid,HPP=3-（2-pyridyl）pyrazole）,was synthesized under hydrothermal conditions.X-ray diffraction analyses reveal that the two Cu（Ⅱ） ions in the distorted dimer [Cu2（PP）2] of 1 are linked by the carboxylate oxygen atoms on the phenyl and imidazole rings,respectively,forming one interesting snake-like chain.Single-crystal X-ray analyses reveal that it crystallizes in monoclinic,space group C2/c with a=30.656（8）,b=12.715（3）,c=22.405（5）,β=122.758（3）°,V=7344（3）3,Z=4,Mr=1681.65,Dc=1.521 g/cm3,F（000）=3464,μ=1.221 mm-1,the final R=0.0453 and wR=0.1023 for 4617 observed reflections with Ⅰ 〉2σ（Ⅰ）.

Synthesis,Characterization and Structure of Chiral Amino Acids and Their Corresponding Amino Alcohols with Camphoric Backbone

Chiral amino acids and their corresponding amino alcohols bearing camphoric backbone were prepared from D-（＋）-camphoric imide and characterized by infrared, elemental analysis, ESI-MS, and NMR measurements. Among them, one intermediate （1S,3R）-3-amino-2,2,3- trimethyl cyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid hydrochloride 3 was structurally elucidated by X-ray diffraction techniques. Versatile intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions observed in its packing structure result in a two-dimensional framework.

Synthesis,Structure,and Magnetic Property of One Snake-shaped Copper(Ⅱ)-organic Compound:Cu[Cu_2(PP)_2](CBPC)_2]·2(H_2O)

One novel copper（II）-organic compound,namely Cu[Cu2（PP）2]（CBPC）2]·2（H2O）（1,H2CBPC = 1-[（2＇-carboxybiphenyl-4-yl）methyl]-2-propylimidazole-4-carboxylic acid,HPP = 3-（2-pyridyl）pyrazole）,was designed and synthesized under hydrothermal conditions.X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that two Cu（II）ions in the quasi-planar dimmer of [Cu2（PP）2] are linked by the carboxylate oxygen atoms on the phenyl ring and the imidazole ring,respectively,yielding one snake-shaped structure.Magnetic measurements reveal that compound 1 shows the strongly antiferromagnetic property.Crystal data of 1：C58H52Cu3N10O10,Mr = 1239.72,monoclinic,P21/c,a = 14.900（7）,b = 15.029（7）,c = 12.308（6）,β = 102.519（9）o,V = 2691（2）3,Z = 2,Dc = 1.530 g/cm3,F（000）= 1274,μ = 1.246 mm-1,R = 0.0416,wR = 0.0780（I 2σ（I））and S = 0.999.

The Dependence of <i>N</i>-Malonyltryptophan Formation in Plants on Water Deficit (Review)

Drought stress in plants is accompanied by several metabolic changes. One of them is the appearance of N-malonyltryptophan (MT) during leaf wilting of many species, but there is a significant number of plant species in which the appearance of MT did not occur. Plants of some species were able to synthesize also N-acetyltryptophan (AT). Excised tomato leaves incubated with D-amino acids (including D-Trp) transform them into malonyl- and acetyl-derivatives even without water deficit. However, MT which appeared during water deficit has been shown to contain L-Trp. Amino acid—1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) is also malonylated during water deficit, but other L-amino acids were not malonylated. N-malonyl transferases specific for Trp and ACC have been found in several plants. The existence of N-malonyltransferase specific to L-Trp and appeared during water deficit in plants forming MT is supposed, but clear experimental proof has not been obtained yet. Plants can transform MT applied exogenously into Trp and further to indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). But no evidence has been appeared up to now that endogenous MT may be a source of IAA. It is unknown till now why it is necessary for plants of many species to malonylate only Trp during water deficit. How MT metabolized in animals and if it affects them is also unknown. The necessity to use molecular-genetic approaches for the elucidation of the physiological significance of MT formation during water deficit is underlined.

Three pairs of alkaloid enantiomers from the root of Isatis indigotica

Three pairs of enantiomerically pure alkaloids with diverse structure features, named isatindigoticoic acid A and epiisatindigoticoic acid A [(—)-1 and(+)-1], phaitanthrin A and epiphaitanthrin A [(—)-2 and(+)-2], and isatindopyrromizol A and epiisatindopyrromizol A [(—)-3and(+)-3], respectively, were isolated from an aqueous extract of the roots of Isatis indigotica. Racemic and scalemic mixtures of these enantiomers were separated by HPLC on a chiral semi-preparative column.Their structures including absolute configurations were determined by extensive spectroscopic analysis in conjunction with the calculation of electronic circular dichroism(ECD) spectra. The enantiomer pairs possess parent structures of 2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline-4-carboxylic acid, indolo[2,1-b]quinazolinone, and 3-thioxohexahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-c]imidazol-1-one, respectively. Except for phaitanthrin A[(—)-2] which the configuration was previously undetermined, these compounds are new enantiomeric natural products.