CAN catalyzed one-pot synthesis and docking study of some novel substituted imidazole coupled 1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acids as antifungal agents

The present work describes a facile,one-pot three component synthesis of a series of 3-[（4,5-diphenyl-2-substituted aryl/heteryl）-1H-imidazol-1-yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid derivatives M（1-15）.Benzil,aromatic aldehydes and 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid was refluxed in ethanol using cerric ammonium nitrate（CAN） as a catalyst to give the title compounds in good yields.The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activity.Compounds M1,M9,and M15 were found to be equipotent against Candida albicans when compared with fluconazole.Compounds M2.M5,and M14 showed higher activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae.Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pyogenes,respectively,compared with ampicillin.Docking study of the newly synthesized compounds was performed,and the results showed good binding mode in the active sites of C albicans enzyme cytochrome P450 lanosterol 14α-demethylase.The results of in vitro antifungal activity and docking study showed that synthesized compounds had potential antifungal activity and can be further optimized and developed as a lead compound.

3D-QSAR and Docking Studies of Pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine Derivatives as Weel Inhibitors

In order to investigate the inhibiting mechanism and obtain some helpful information for designing functional inhibitors against Wee1, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship （3D-QSAR） and docking studies have been performed on 45 pyrido[2,3-d] pyrimidine derivatives acting as Wee1 inhibitors. Two optimal 3D-QSAR models with significant statistical quality and satisfactory predictive ability were established, including the CoMFA model （q2=0.707, R2=0.964） and CoMSIA model （q2=0.645, R2=0.972）. The external validation indicated that both CoMFA and CoMSIA models were quite robust and had high predictive power with the predictive correlation coefficient values of 0.707 and 0.794, essen- 2 values of 0.792 and 0.826, the leave-one-out r2m（LOO） values of 0.781 and tim parameter rm2 0.809, r2（ all） values of 0.787 and 0.810, respectively. Moreover, the appropriate binding orientations and conformations of these compounds interacting with Wee1 were revealed by the docking studies. Based on the CoMFA and CoMSIA contour maps and docking analyses, several key structural requirements of these compounds responsible for inhibitory activity were identified as follows： simultaneously introducing high electropositive groups to the sub- stituents R1 and R5 may increase the activity, the substituent R2 should be smaller bulky and higher electronegative, moderate-size and strong electron-withdrawing groups for the substituent R3 is advantageous to the activity, but the substituent X should be medium-size and hydrophilic. These theoretical results help to understand the action mechanism and design novel potential Wee1 inhibitors.

Binding Mechanism and Molecular Design of Benzimidazole/Benzothiazole Derivatives as Potent Abl T3151 Mutant Inhibitors

Despite the efficacy of imatinib therapy in chronic myelogenous leukemia, the development of drug-resistant Abl mutants, especially the most difficult overcoming T3151 mutant, makes the search for new Abl T3151 inhibitors a very interesting challenge in medicinal chem- istry. In this work, a multistep computational framework combining the three dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship （3D-QSAR）, molecular docking, molecular dy- namics （MD） simulation and binding free energy calculation, was performed to explore the structural requirements for the Abl T315I activities of benzimidazole/benzothiazole derivatives and the binding mechanism between the inhibitors and Abl T315I. The established 3D-QSAR models exhibited satisfactory internal and external predictability. Docking study elucidated the comformations of compounds and the key amino acid residues at the binding pocket, which were confirmed by MD simulation. The binding free energies correlated well with the experimental activities. The MM-GBSA energy decomposition revealed that the van der Waals interaction was the major driving force for the interaction between the ligands and Abl T3151. The hydrogen bond interactions between the inhibitors and Met318 also played an important role in stablizing the binding of compounds to Abl T315I. Finally, four new compounds with rather high Abl T3151 activities were designed and presented to experimenters for reference.

Recognition of Natural Products as Potential Inhibitors of COVID-19 Main Protease (Mpro): In-Silico Evidences

SARS-CoV-2(2019-nCoV)emerged in 2019 and proliferated rapidly across the globe.Scientists are attempting to investigate antivirals specific to COVID-19 treatment.The 2019-nCoV and SARS-CoV utilize the same receptor of the host which is COVID-19 of the main protease(Mpro).COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is burdensome to overcome by presently acquired antiviral candidates.So the objective and purpose of this work was to investigate the plants with reported potential antiviral activity.With the aid of in silico techniques such as molecular docking and druggability studies,we have proposed several natural active compounds including glycyrrhizin,bicylogermecrene,tryptanthrine,β-sitosterol,indirubin,indican,indigo,hesperetin,crysophanic acid,rhein,berberine andβ-caryophyllene which can be encountered as potential herbal candidate exhibiting anti-viral activity against SARS-CoV-2.Promising docking outcomes have been executed which evidenced the worthy of these selected herbal remedies for future drug development to combat coronavirus disease.

Chemical Constituents from Turnip and Their Effects on α-Glucosidase

Brassica rapa var.rapa(turnip)is an important crop in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP)with anti-hypoxic effect.Turnip is rich in glucosinolates,isothiocyanates and phenolic compounds with diverse biological activities,involving anti-oxidant,anti-tumor,anti-diabetic,anti-inflammatory,anti-microbial,hypolipidemic,cardioprotective,hepatoprotective,nephroprotective and analgesic properties.In this study,the ethyl acetate(EtOAc)and butanol parts of Brassica rapa were first revealed with inhibitory effects onα-glucosidase,whereas the water part was inactive.Subsequent bioassay-guided isolation on the EtOAc and butanol parts yielded 12 compounds,involving three indole derivatives,indole-3-acetonitrile(1)4-methoxyindole-3-acetonitrile(2)and indole-3-aldehyde(3)two flavonoids,liquiritin(4)and licochalcone A(5)two phenylpropanoids,sinapic acid(6)and caffeic acid(7)two phenylethanol glycosides,2-phenylethylβ-glucopyranoside(8)and salidroside(9)and three other compounds,syringic acid(10)adenosine(11)and(3β,20E)-ergosta-5,20(22)-dien-3-ol(12)Licochalcone A(5)and caffeic acid(7)showedα-glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC 50 values of 62.4±8.0μM and 162.6±3.2μM,comparable to the positive control,acarbose(IC 50=142±0.02μM).Docking study suggested that licochalcone A(5)could well align in the active site ofα-glucosidase(docking score=-52.88)by forming hydrogen bonds(Gln1372,Asp1420,Gln1372,Arg1510),hydrophobic effects(Tyr1251,Tyr1251,Trp1355,Phe1560,Ile1587,Trp1355,Phe1559,Phe1559)andπ-πstacking interaction(Trp1355).This study provides valuable information for turnip as a new resource in searching anti-diabetic candidates.

Molecular Modeling and Design of Arylthioindole Derivatives as Tubulin Inhibitors

Three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship （3D-QSAR） and docking studies of a series of arylthioindole derivatives as tubulin inhibitors against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 have been carried out. An optimal 3D-QSAR model from the comparative molecular field analysis （CoMFA） for training set with significant statistical quality （R2=0.898） and predictive ability （q2=0.654） was established. The same model was further applied to predict pIC50 values of the compounds in test set, and the resulting predictive correlation coefficient R2（pred） reaches 0.816, further showing that this CoMFA model has high predictive ability. Moreover, the appropriate binding orientations and conformations of these compounds interacting with tubulin are located by docking study, and it is very interesting to find the consistency between the CoMFA field distribution and the 3D topology structure of active site of tubulin. Based on CoMFA along with docking results, some important factors improving the activities of these compounds were discussed in detail and were summarized as follows： the substituents R3-R5 （on the phenyl ring） with higher electronegativity, the substituent R6 with higher eleetropositivity and bigger bulk, the substituent R7 with smaller bulk, and so on. In addition, five new compounds with higher activities have been designed. Such results can offer useful theoretical references for experimental works.

Synthesis, docking and ADMET prediction of novel 5-((5-substituted-1-H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl) methyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno[3,2-c]pyridine as antifungal agents

A novel series of 5-（（5-substituted-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl）methyl）-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrothieno[3,2-c]pyr- idines 5（a-i） has been synthesized from thienopyridine hydrazide, substituted aromatic nitriles using 4- dimethylaminopyridine （DMAP） as a catalyst under microwave irradiation and evaluated for their in vitro antifungal activity. Compound 5g is found to be more potent against Candida albicans when compared with miconazole. Docking study of the newly synthesized compounds was performed, and results showed good binding mode in the active site of fungal enzyme P450 cytochrome lanosterol 14α- demethylase. ADMET properties of synthesized compounds were also analyzed and showed good drug like properties. The results of in vitro antifungal activity, docking study and ADMET prediction revealed that the synthesized compounds have potential antifungal activity and can be further optimized and developed as a lead compound.

1,2,3-Triazole incorporated coumarin derivatives as potential antifungal and antioxidant agents

A series of novel ethyl-7-（（1-（benzyl）-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl）methoxy）-2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carboxylates 8a-h as potential antifungal agents were synthesized via click chemistry. The antifungal activity was evaluated against five human pathogenic fungal strains, such as Candida albicans, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Cryptococcus neoformans. Compound 8c, 8d, 8e and 8h were found to be equipotent against C. albicans when compared with miconazole and compound 8f was found to be two-fold more active compared with miconazole and equipotent to fluconazole against C.albicans. The coumarin-based triazole derivatives were also evaluated for antioxidant activity and compound 8a was found to be potent antioxidant when compared with standard drug. Furthermore,molecular docking study of the newly synthesized compounds was performed and results showed good binding mode in the active site of fungal C. albicans enzyme P450 cytochrome lanosterol 14 ademethylase. Moreover, the synthesized compounds were also analyzed for ADME properties and showed potential to build up as good oral drug candidates.

Similar pyridinone compounds with different activities of anti-HIV-1 reverse transcriptase

Among the structurally diverse NNRTIs, pyridinone scaffolds demonstrate high potency against HIV-1 wild type and drug-resistant strains. During the optimization of our pyridinone compound 1（LAM-trans）, we found that the introduction of the N atoms in the C-4 position could dramatically improve the water solubility（7b）, whereas protonation of the piperidine N atom resulted in a decrease in its hydrophobic interaction with the binding pocket. In particular, protonation altered the orientation of the alicyclic rings in the hydrophobic pocket, thus impeding the formation of key halogen bond and eventually leading to a huge change in anti-HIV-1 RT activity. These results provided theoretical and experimental basis for the subsequent structural modification of pyridinone compounds.

Expeditious synthesis,antileishmanial and antioxidant activities of novel 3-substituted-4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives

A series of novel 3-substituted-4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives 6（a-1） were synthesized in high yield using one-pot three component coupling reaction catalyzed by ceric ammonium nitrate. These compounds were evaluated for antileishmanial activity against Leishmania donovani promastigotes and antioxidant activity（DPPH-radical scavenging activity）. Two compounds, 6h（IC50= 9.90 μmol/L） and 6i（IC50= 6.90 μmol/L） displayed potent antileishmanial activity when compared with standard antileishmanial agents pentamidine（IC50= 16.15 μmol/L） and miltefosine（IC50= 12.50 μmol/L）. Three compounds, 6c（IC50= 10.79 μmol/L）, 6h（IC50= 10.60 μmol/L）, and 6i（IC50= 10.73 μmol/L） showed significant antioxidant activity favorably with the antioxidant standards butylated hydroxy toluene（IC50= 16.47 μmol/L） and ascorbic acid（IC50= 12.69 μmol/L）. A molecular docking study of compounds 6（a-1） suggested a possible mode of binding with the Adenine phosphoribosyltransferase enzyme of L.donovani. ADME properties were predicted in silico and support the potential of 6（a-1） to show favorable drug-like properties.

2,3-Diaryl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives as potential anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents

In this study we examined the suitability of the 3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine ring system in developing novel anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents incorporating a diaryl pharmacophore. Eight 2,3-diaryl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives retrieved from our in-house database were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against nine cancer cell lines. The results indicated that the compounds showed moderate cytotoxic activity against MCF-7, MDA-MB-468, K562 and SaOS2 cells, with K562 being the most sensitive among the four cancer cell lines. The eight 2,3-diaryl-3H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives were also evaluated for their COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory activity in vitro. The results showed that compound 3f exhibited 2-fold selectivity with IC_(50) values of 9.2 and 21.8 mmol/L against COX-2 and COX-1, respectively. Molecular docking studies on the most active compound 3f revealed a binding mode similar to that of celecoxib in the active site of the COX-2 enzyme.

Development of bis-thiobarbiturates as successful urease inhibitors and their molecular modeling studies

Bis-thiobarbiturate derivatives 1-15 have been synthesized, characterized by 1HNMR and El-MS and screened for urease inhibition. All compounds showed various degree of urease inhibitory activity with iC50 values ranging 7.45 ± 0.12 - 74.24 ± 0.81 μmol/L while the standard thiourea behaved normally （ICso = 21.10 ±0.12）. Compounds I （IC50= 7.45 ± 0.12 ]μmol/L）, 9 （IC50 =18,17 ± 1.03 bmol/L） and 13 （IC50= 8.61 ± 0.45 bmol/L） showed excellent urease inhibitory activity in the series. Molecular modeling studies were performed to understand the binding site with the bimetallic nickel center of the enzyme. Structure-activity relationship has also been established for these compounds. This study identified bis- thiobarbiturate as a novel class of urease inhibitors.