Efficient Photolytic Halogenation and Oxidation of Unactivated Alkyl sp^(3) C—H Bonds with Iodine(III)

A metal-free,green,and sustainable functionalization of unactivated alkyl sp^(3) C—H bonds is reported using iodine(III)as a feasible dehydrogenation agent under visible light or KBr,and alkyl chlorides,bromides,alcohols,and ketones could be constructed by addition of different coupling reagents.Cheap and safe iodobenzene diacetate was used to form a radical to activate the alkyl sp^(3) C—H bond in a highly efficient manner,which can construct different alkylation products by adding corresponding coupling reagents.

A novel TNKS/USP25 inhibitor blocks the Wnt pathway to overcome multi-drug resistance in TNKS-overexpressing colorectal cancer

Modulating Tankyrases(TNKS),interactions with USP25 to promote TNKS degradation,rather than inhibiting their enzymatic activities,is emerging as an alternative/specific approach to inhibit the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.Here,we identified UAT-B,a novel neoantimycin analog isolated from Streptomyces conglobatus,as a small-molecule inhibitor of TNKS-USP25 protein-protein interaction(PPI)to overcome multi-drug resistance in colorectal cancer(CRC).The disruption of TNKS-USP25 complex formation by UAT-B led to a significant decrease in TNKS levels,triggering cell apoptosis through modulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.Importantly,UAT-B successfully inhibited the CRC cells growth that harbored high TNKS levels,as demonstrated in various in vitro and in vivo studies utilizing cell line-based and patient-derived xenografts,as well as APC^(min/+)spontaneous CRC models.Collectively,these findings suggest that targeting the TNKS-USP25 PPI using a small-molecule inhibitor represents a compelling therapeutic strategy for CRC treatment,and UAT-B emerges as a promising candidate for further preclinical and clinical investigations.

New opportunities and challenges of natural products research:When target identification meets single-cell multiomics

Natural products, and especially the active ingredients found in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), have a thousand-year-long history of clinical use and a strong theoretical basis in TCM. As such,traditional remedies provide shortcuts for the development of original new drugs in China, and increasing numbers of natural products are showing great therapeutic potential in various diseases. This paper reviews the molecular mechanisms of action of natural products from different sources used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer, introduces the methods and newly emerging technologies used to identify and validate the targets of natural active ingredients, enumerates the expansive list of TCM used to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer, and summarizes the patterns of action of emerging technologies such as single-cell multiomics, network pharmacology, and artificial intelligence in the pharmacological studies of natural products to provide insights for the development of innovative natural product-based drugs. Our hope is that we can make use of advances in target identification and singlecell multiomics to obtain a deeper understanding of actions of mechanisms of natural products that will allow innovation and revitalization of TCM and its swift industrialization and internationalization.

Synthesis of tetrasubstituted thiophenes from pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates and modified activated alkynes

Pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates were applied to a formal [3+2] annulation reaction with modified activated alkynes, affording various tetrasubstituted thiophenes with aryl, alkenyl, alkyl or silyl group at the special position. The structural modification of alkyne substrates enabled the synthesis of diverse thiophenes to be achieved using the pyridinium 1,4-zwitterionic thiolates as the sulfur-containing building blocks. This approach is metal-free and catalyst-free.

Li-rich channels as the material gene for facile lithium diffusion in halide solid electrolytes

Halide solid electrolytes have attracted intense research interest recently for application in all-solid-state lithiumion batteries. Herein, we present a systematic first-principles study of the Li3MX6 (M: multivalent cation;X:halogen anion) halide family that unveils the link between Li-rich channels and ionic conductivity, highlightingthe former as a material gene in these compounds. By screening a total of 180 halides for those with highthermodynamic stability, wide electrochemical window, low chemical reactivity, and decent Li-ion conductivity,we identify seven unexplored candidates for solid electrolytes. From these halides and another four prototypecompounds, we discover that the facile Li diffusion is rooted in the availability of diffusion pathways which canavoid direct connection with M cations-that is, where the local environment is Li-rich. These findings shed lighton strategies for regulating cation and anion frameworks to establish Li-rich channels in the design of high-performance inorganic solid electrolytes.