DABCO‐Mediated C−O Bond Formation from C sp2 ‐Halogen Bond‐Containing Compounds and Alkyl Alcohols

Furanonyl amino acid derivatives as hemostatic drugs: design, synthesis and hemostasis performance

Using 3,4-dihalo-2(5H)-furanones and easily available hemostatic drugs, such as tranexamic acid (TA), 4-aminomethylbenzoic acid (ABA), aminocaproic acid (AA) as starting materials, serial multi-functional molecules 2(5H)-furanonyl amino acids are designed by the combination of different pharmacophores, and successfully synthesized by a transition metal-free Michael addition-elimination reaction. The reaction is carried out under mild conditions with ethanol-dichloromethane as solvent and only stirring at room temperature for 24 h, and the yield can be up to 91%. All products are well characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution mass spectra (HRMS). Ten typical target compounds among them are selected out for the experiments of hemostasis performance by the evaluation of in vitro clot formation model and liver hemorrhage model. The test results show that, their hemostasis effect is better than the original drugs. Especially the target compound G, a TA derivative from 5-borneoloxy-3,4-dibromo-2(5H)-furanone, has the best hemostasis effect among all the tested compounds. These obtained target molecules are expected to be used as multi-functional hemostatic drugs.

Synthesis of N-2(5H)-furanonyl sulfonyl hydrazone derivatives and their biological evaluation in vitro and in vivo activity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells

A series of (E)-N-2(5H)-furanonyl sulfonyl hydrazone derivatives have been rationally designed and efficiently synthesized by one-pot reaction with good yields for the first time. This green approach with wide substrate range and good selectivity can be achieved at room temperature in a short time in the presence of metal-free catalyst. The cytotoxic activities against three human cancer cell lines of all newly obtained compounds have been evaluated by MTT assay. Among them, compound 5 k exhibits high cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with an IC₅₀ value of 14.35 μM. The cytotoxic mechanism may involve G2/M phase arrest pathway, which is probably caused by activating DNA damage. Comet test and immunofluorescence results show that compound 5 k can induce DNA damage in time- and dose-dependent manner. Importantly, 5 k also can effectively inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and angiogenesis in the zebrafish xenograft model. It is potential to further develop N-2(5H)-furanonyl sulfonyl hydrazone derivatives as potent drugs for breast cancer treatment with higher cytotoxic activity by modifying the structure of the compound.

Synthesis of amino acid derivatives of 5-alkoxy-3,4-dihalo-2(5H)-furanones and their preliminary bioactivity investigation as linkers

A series of amino acid derivatives are successfully synthesized via a metal-free C-N coupling reaction of 5-alkoxy-3,4-dihalo-2(5H)-furanones and amino acids. Their structures are well characterized with ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. As potential linkers of the 2(5H)-furanone unit with other drug moieties containing a hydroxyl or amino group, the effect of amino acids is investigated by comparison with other 2(5H)-furanone compounds by constructing C-O/C-S bonds. The preliminary results of the biological activity assay by the MTT method on a series of cancer cell lines in vitro reveal that the introduction of amino acids basically has no toxic effect. This can lead to these 2(5H)-furanone derivatives being further well-linked with other bioactive moieties with amino or hydroxy groups as expected. Thus, the biological activity assay gives a direction for the design of bioactive 2(5H)-furanones based on these amino acid linkers.