Assembly of palladium(II) and platinum(II) metallo-rectangles with a guanosine-substituted terpyridine and study of their interactions with quadruplex DNA

Efficient O-Functionalization of Carbohydrates with Electrophilic Reagents

Novel methodology for O-functionalization of carbohydrate derivatives has been established using bench-stable and easily prepared iodonium(III) reagents. Both electron-withdrawing and electron-donating aryl groups were introduced under ambient conditions and without precautions to exclude air or moisture. Furthermore, the approach was extended both to full arylation of cyclodextrin, and to trifluoroethylation of carbohydrate derivatives. This is the first general approach to introduce traditionally non-electrophilic groups into any of the OH groups around the sugar backbone. The methodology will be useful both in synthetic organic chemistry and biochemistry, as important functional groups can be incorporated under simple and robust reaction conditions in a fast and efficient manner.

A G-quadruplex-selective luminescent iridium(III) complex and its application by long lifetime

BACKGROUND

The G-quadruplex motif has been widely used for the construction of analytical detection platforms due to its rich structural polymorphism and flexibility. Luminescent assays are often limited due to the interference from endogenous fluorophores in biological samples.

METHODS

To address this challenge, a novel long lifetime iridium(III) complex 1 was synthesized and used to construct a G-quadruplex-based assay for detecting prostate specific antigen (PSA) in aqueous solution. PSA is a common biomarker in serum and used as a model for demonstration in this work.

RESULTS

The PSA assay has achieved a detection limit of 40.8pg·mL^-1, and shows high selectivity towards PSA over other proteins. Additionally, the assay could function in diluted human serum by using time-resolved luminescent spectroscopy, with good linearity from 1 to 10ng·mL^-1 of PSA, which is adequate to detect the PSA levels for physiological (<4ng·mL^-1) and clinical (4-10ng·mL^-1) applications.

CONCLUSIONS

The assay was successfully constructed. As revealed from time-resolved method, the long lifetime property of iridium(III) complex 1 plays an important role in distinguishing phosphorescence signals from short-life auto-fluorescence of human serum.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

Luminescent transition metal complexes offer several advantages over other widely used organic fluorophores, such as long phosphorescence lifetime, large Stokes shift and modular syntheses. In addition, the assay could work effectively in diluted human serum using time-resolved luminescent spectroscopy, it therefore could be potentially developed to monitor PSA in biological samples. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "G-quadruplex" Guest Editor: Dr. Concetta Giancola and Dr. Daniela Montesarchio.

Syntheses of pterocarpenes and coumestans via regioselective cyclodehydration

A highly efficient synthetic route to pterocarpenes and coumestans is described. BCl3-mediated dehydrative cyclization of 1,3-diaryloxyacetones under mild conditions permitted regioselective ring closure to afford 3-((2-iodoaryloxy)methyl)benzofurans which were converted to the corresponding pterocarpenes by Pd-catalyzed intramolecular direct arylation. The subsequent benzylic oxidation led to coumestans. This sequence was applied to the formal syntheses of coumestrol and the proposed structure of plicadin as well as total syntheses of flemichapparins B and C.

A Cu-mediated one-pot Michael addition/α-arylation strategy using a diaryliodonium salt: a direct and efficient approach to α-aryl-β-substituted cyclic ketone scaffolds

The direct and efficient construction of α-aryl-β-substituted cyclic ketone scaffolds has been achieved using a Cu-mediated one-pot Michael addition/α-arylation strategy. The reaction features easily available materials, broad substrate scope, moderate to good yield, and an excellent diastereoselectivity.

Cascade bicyclizations of o-alkynyl aldehydes with thiazolium salts: a new access toward poly-functionalized indeno[2,1-b]pyrroles

A new cascade bicyclization of o-alkynyl aldehydes with thiazolium salts is described, in which 25 examples of densely functionalized indeno[2,1-b]pyrroles are achieved in a functional-group-compatible manner. Thiazole carbenes generated in situ from thiazolium salts play dual roles as reaction partners and as NHC catalysts. The synthetic utility of these bicyclization reactions results in subsequent C-C bond-forming events to rapidly build up molecular complexity.

Photophysical, G-quadruplex DNA binding and cytotoxic properties of terpyridine complexes with a naphthalimide ligand

The complex3inhibits A549 cells selectively over non-cancerous NIH3T3 cells, which may correlate with its selective G-quadruplex binding and nuclear location.

Synthesis, crystal structure, cytotoxicity and action mechanism of Zn(ii) and Mn(ii) complexes with 4-([2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridin]-4′-yl)-N,N-diethylaniline as a ligand

Two metallo-complexes inhibited telomerase by interacting with c-myc G4-DNA and induced cell cycle arrest at the S phase.

Arylation with Diaryliodonium Salts

This chapter focuses on recent developments in metal-free and metal-catalyzed arylations with diaryliodonium salts (diaryl-λ3-iodanes). Synthetic routes to diaryliodonium salts are briefly described, and chemoselectivity trends with unsymmetric iodonium salts are discussed.

Transition-Metal-Free N-Arylation of Pyrazoles with Diaryliodonium Salts

A new synthetic method was developed for the N-arylation of pyrazoles using diaryliodonium salts. The transformation does not require any transition-metal catalyst and provides the desired N-arylpyrazoles rapidly under mild reaction condition in the presence of aqueous ammonia solution as a mild base without the use of inert atmosphere. The chemoselectivity of unsymmetric diaryliodonium salts was also explored with large number of examples.

Metal-free N-arylation of secondary amides at room temperature

The arylation of secondary acyclic amides has been achieved with diaryliodonium salts under mild and metal-free conditions. The methodology has a wide scope, allows synthesis of tertiary amides with highly congested aryl moieties, and avoids the regioselectivity problems observed in reactions with (diacetoxyiodo)benzene.

Base promoted direct C4-arylation of 4-substituted-pyrazolin-5-ones with diaryliodonium salts

A metal-free approach for the C4-arylation of 4-substituted-pyrazolin-5-ones with diaryliodonium salts was developed.

The effect of potential supramolecular-bond promoters on the DNA-interacting abilities of copper–terpyridine compounds

Supramolecular interactions prevail over DNA-cleaving abilities in the cytotoxicity behaviour of terpyridine-based copper(ii) complexes.

Metal-free one-pot sequential direct diarylation of pyrazolin-5-ones with diaryliodonium salts

A novel and efficient one-pot sequential C4-diarylation of pyrazolin-5-ones with diaryliodonium salts at room temperature in the absence of a metal catalyst was reported.

Interactions of selected gold(iii) complexes with DNA G quadruplexes

The interactions of three Au(iii) complexes with human telomeric DNA sequences: Auoxo6 turned out to be very effective in inducing and binding the G-quadruplex DNA conformation.

Syntheses of polypyridyl metal complexes and studies of their interaction with quadruplex DNA

A series of metal complexes with substituted terpyridines show high affinity towards quadruplex DNA, particularly bimetallic (trpy)Pt/M(cyclen) complexes.

Stabilization of human telomeric G-quadruplex and inhibition of telomerase activity by propeller-shaped trinuclear Pt(II) complexes

Two novel propeller-shaped, trigeminal-ligand-containing, flexible trinuclear Pt(II) complexes, {[Pt(dien)]3(ptp)}(NO3)6 (1) and {[Pt(dpa)]3(ptp)}(NO3)6 (2) (dien: diethylenetriamine; dpa: bis-(2-pyridylmethyl)amine; ptp: 6'-(pyridin-3-yl)-3,2':4',3''-terpyridine), have been designed and synthesized, and their interactions with G-quadruplex (G4) sequences are characterized. A combination of biophysical and biochemical assays reveals that both Pt(II) complexes exhibit higher affinity for human telomeric (hTel) and c-myc promoter G4 sequences than duplex DNA. Complex 1 binds and stabilizes hTel G4 sequence more effectively than complex 2. Both complexes are found to induce and stabilize either antiparallel or parallel conformation of G4 structures. Molecular docking studies indicate that complex 1 binds into the large groove of the antiparallel hTel G4 structure (PDB ID: 143D) and complex 2 stacks onto the exposed G-quartet of the parallel hTel G4 structure (PDB ID: 1KF1). Telomeric repeat amplification protocol assays demonstrate that both complexes are good telomerase inhibitors, with IC50 values of (16.0±0.4) μM and (4.20±0.25) μM for 1 and 2, respectively. Collectively, the results suggest that these propeller-shaped flexible trinuclear Pt(II) complexes are effective and selective G4 binders and good telomerase inhibitors. This work provides valuable information for the interaction between multinuclear metal complexes with G4 DNA.