Sonochemical synthesis, structural inspection and semiconductor behavior of three new nano sized Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) chelates based on tri‐dentate NOO imine ligand as precursors for metal oxides

Environmentally benign synthesis of unsymmetrical ureas and their evaluation as potential HIV-1 protease inhibitors via a computational approach

The present work reports the cost-effective, high yielding and environmentally acceptable preparation of unsymmetrical ureas from thiocarbamate salts using sodium percarbonate as an oxidant. Efficacy of the unsymmetrical ureas as potential human immune deficiency virus (HIV-1) protease inhibitors has been evaluated via in silico approach. The results revealed interactions of the urea compounds at the active site of the enzyme with favorable binding affinities causing possible mutations hindering the functioning of the enzyme. Further computational assessment of IC50 using known references satisfactorily authenticated the inhibitory action of the selected compounds against HIV-1 protease. Added to the easy synthesis of the ureas following an environmentally benign protocol, this work may be a valuable addition to the ongoing search for drugs with better efficacy profiles and reduced toxicity against HIV.

Computational studies indicated the effectiveness of human metabolites against SARS-Cov-2 main protease

To fight against the devastating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), identifying robust anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics from all possible directions is necessary. To contribute to this effort, we selected a human metabolites database containing waters and lipid-soluble metabolites to screen against the 3-chymotrypsin-like proteases (3CLpro) protein of SARS-CoV-2. The top 8 hits from virtual screening displayed a docking score varying between ~ - 11 and ~ - 14 kcal/mol. Molecular dynamics simulations complement the virtual screening study in conjunction with the molecular mechanics generalized Born surface area (MM/GBSA) scheme. Our analyses revealed that (HMDB0132640) has the best glide docking score, - 14.06 kcal/mol, and MM-GBSA binding free energy, - 18.08 kcal/mol. The other three lead molecules are also selected along with the top molecule through a critical inspection of their pharmacokinetic properties. HMDB0132640 displayed a better binding affinity than the other three compounds (HMDB0127868, HMDB0134119, and HMDB0125821) due to increased favorable contributions from the intermolecular electrostatic and van der Waals interactions. Further, we have investigated the ligand-induced structural dynamics of the main protease. Overall, we have identified new compounds that can serve as potential leads for developing novel antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and elucidated molecular mechanisms of their binding to the main protease. Identification of probable hits from human metabolites against SARS-CoV-2 using integrated computational approaches-Missed against MS.

Comparative synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites using chemical and green approaches including a comparison study on in vivo and in vitro biological properties

In this study, the anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cytotoxic, and antibacterial effects of various substances were studied in vitro. Malachite green's photocatalytic effects were used to determine the optimised sample while it was exposed to visible light. The intended nanocomposites were created without any contaminants, according to XRD data. The overall characterisation results of the green synthesis of CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(G)) were superior to those of the chemical synthesis of CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(C)). At the five doses examined, the green synthesis of CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(G)) and chemical synthesis of CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(C)) resulted in higher α-glucosidase inhibition percentages in the antidiabetic assay. HaCaT cells and MCF-7 cells were less harmful when treated with chemically synthesized CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(C)), and green synthesized CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(G)). From the results of the cytotoxicity tests against MCF-7 cells and HaCaT cells using the nanocomposites, the IC₅₀ values of Salacia reticulata, green synthesized CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(G)), and chemically synthesized CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(C)) were calculated. This research work shows that the green synthesized CS/SiO₂/TiO₂/CeO₂/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (CSTCF(G)) have strong anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti-diabetic properties, as well as considerable suppression of high activation in in vivo zebrafish embryo toxicity. The novelty of this study focused on the revelation that green synthesized nanocomposites are more affordable, environmentally friendly and biocompatible than chemically synthesized ones.

Design, Synthesis, Spectroscopic Inspection, DFT and Molecular Docking Study of Metal Chelates Incorporating Azo Dye Ligand for Biological Evaluation

A new heterocyclic azo dye ligand (L) was synthesized by the combination of 4-amino antipyrine with 4-aminophenol. The new Cr(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) complexes were synthesized in excellent yields. The metal chelate structures were elucidated using elemental analyses, FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, mass, magnetic moment, diffused reflectance spectral and thermal analysis (TG-DTG), and molar conductivity measurement. According to the FT-IR study, the azo dye ligand exhibited neutral tri-dentate behavior, binding to the metal ions with the azo N, carbonyl O, and protonated phenolic OH. The ¹H-NMR spectral study of the Zn(II) complex supported the coordination of the zo dye ligand without proton displacement of the phenolic OH. Diffused reflectance and magnetic moment studies revealed the octahedral geometry of the complexes, as well as their good electrolytic nature, excepting the Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes, which were nonelectrolytes, as deduced from the molar conductivity study. The theoretical calculations of optimized HOMO-LUMO energies, geometrical parameters, electronic spectra, natural atomic charges, 3D-plots of MEP, and vibrational wavenumbers were computed and elucidated using LANL2DZ and 6-311G (d, p) basis sets of density functional theory (DFT) with the approach of B3LYP DFT and TD-DFT methods. The ligand and complexes have been assayed for their antimicrobial activity and compared with the standard drugs. Most of the complexes have manifested excellent antimicrobial activity against various microbial strains. A molecular docking investigation was also performed, to acquire more information about the binding mode and energy of the ligand and its metal complexes to the Escherichia coli receptor using molecular docking. Altogether, the newly created ligand and complexes showed positive antibacterial effects and are worth future study.

Innovation of Imine Metal Chelates as Corrosion Inhibitors at Different Media: A Collective Study

The corrosion inhibition of transition metal chelates derived from Schiff base ligands was tested for (mild, copper, stainless, aluminum and carbon) steel in various concentrations of (HCl, HNO₃ and H₂SO₄) acidic medium at 25 °C through (weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open circuit potential measurements (OCP)) techniques. The studied compounds were identified with various spectral, analytical and physico-chemical techniques. It was observed that the investigated compounds had a significant inhibitory impact on the corrosion of diverse steels in the medium investigated. The analysis shows that increasing the dose of the studied complexes improves the corresponding inhibitory efficiency values. Negative results of Gibb’s free adsorption energy (ΔGads0) prove the suppression process’s spontaneous and physical adsorption, which contradicts the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. As a result of this insight, a novel bridge between nuclearity driven coordinated inorganic chemistry and materials, as well as corrosion control, has been built. This review provides an overview of the use of Schiff bases and associated transition metals as potential corrosion inhibitors, including the factors that influence their application.

Syntheses, in vitro, and in silico studies of rhodanine-based schiff bases as potential α-amylase inhibitors and radicals (DPPH and ABTS) scavengers

A two-step reaction method was used to synthesize a series of rhodanine-based Schiff bases (2-33) that were characterized using spectroscopic techniques. All compounds were assessed for α-amylase inhibitory and radical scavenging (DPPH and ABTS) activities. In comparison to the standard acarbose (IC₅₀ = 9.08 ± 0.07 µM), all compounds demonstrated good to moderate α-amylase inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 10.91 ± 0.08-61.89 ± 0.102 µM). Compounds also demonstrated significantly higher DPPH (IC₅₀ = 10.33 ± 0.02-96.65 ± 0.03 µM) and ABTS (IC₅₀ = 12.01 ± 0.12-97.47 ± 0.13 µM) radical scavenging activities than ascorbic acid (DPPH, IC₅₀ = 15.08 ± 0.03 µM; ABTS, IC₅₀ = 16.09 ± 0.17 µM). The limited structure-activity relationship (SAR) suggests that the position and nature of the substituted groups on the phenyl ring have a vital role in varying inhibitory potential. Among the series, compounds with an electron-withdrawing group at the para position showed the highest potency. Kinetic studies revealed that the compounds followed a competitive mode of inhibition. Molecular docking results are found to agree with experimental findings, showing that compounds reside in the active pocket due to the main rhodanine moiety.

Fabrication, DFT Calculation, and Molecular Docking of Two Fe(III) Imine Chelates as Anti-COVID-19 and Pharmaceutical Drug Candidate

Two tetradentate dibasic chelating Schiff base iron (III) chelates were prepared from the reaction of 2,2′-((1E,1′E)-(1,2-phenylenebis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(4-bromophenol) (PDBS) and 2,2′-((1E,1′E)-((4-chloro-1,2-phenylene)bis(azanylylidene))-bis(methanylylidene))bis(4-bromophenol) (CPBS) with Fe³⁺ ions. The prepared complexes were fully characterized with spectral and physicochemical tools such as IR, NMR, CHN analysis, TGA, UV-visible spectra, and magnetic moment measurements. Moreover, geometry optimizations for the synthesized ligands and complexes were conducted using the Gaussian09 program through the DFT approach, to find the best structures and key parameters. The prepared compounds were tested as antimicrobial agents against selected strains of bacteria and fungi. The results suggests that the CPBSFe complex has the highest activity, which is close to the reference. An MTT assay was used to screen the newly synthesized compounds against a variety of cell lines, including colon cancer cells, hepatic cellular carcinoma cells, and breast carcinoma cells. The results are expressed by IC50 value, in which the 48 µg/mL value of the CPBSFe complex indicates its success as a potential anticancer agent. The antioxidant behavior of the two imine chelates was studied by DPPH assay. All the tested imine complexes show potent antioxidant activity compared to the standard Vitamin C. Furthermore, the in vitro assay and the mechanism of binding and interaction efficiency of the tested samples with the receptor of COVID-19 core protease viral protein (PDB ID: 6lu7) and the receptor of Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, PDB ID: 1fj4) were investigated using molecular docking experiments.

Synthesis, spectral characterization, DFT calculations, pharmacological studies, CT-DNA binding and molecular docking of potential N, O-multidentate chelating ligand and its VO(II), Zn(II) and ZrO(II) chelates

The pharmacological efficacy of the variety tetradentate ligands encouraged us to design attractive compounds through effective synthetic procedure. The prepared Schiff base ligand 6,6'-((1E,1'E)-((4-chloro-1,2-phenylene)bis(azaneylylidene))bis(methaneylylidene))bis(2-ethoxy phenol (H₂L), which derived from 4-chloro-o-phenylenediamine and 3-ethoxy-salicylaldehyde and its VO(II), Zn(II) and ZrO(II) metal chelates, have been synthesized and characterized with aim of that it may struggle the invasion of drug resistance. The chemical structural of studied compounds were discussed by TGA, elemental analysis, UV-Vis., ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FTIR, mass spectral, PXRD, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements and density functional theory. The results assigned square pyramid geometries for [VOL] and [ZrOL].2H₂O chelates and an octahedral geometry for [ZnL(H₂O)₂].2H₂O chelate. Powder XRD data showed that the complexes are monoclinic with polycrystalline nature. The results of CT-DNA interaction with the titled chelates showed that the binding between CT-DNA and the metal complexes occurs through intercalation mode. Their CT-DNA binding efficiency estimated in terms of their binding constants (K_b), which gave the order: VOL (6.9 × 10⁵) > ZrOL (6.3 × 10⁵) > ZnL(H₂O)₂ (5.5 × 10⁵). The antimicrobial activities of the synthesized compounds were tested against selected fungal and bacterial strains using well diffusion technique. The obtained chelates showed higher antifungal and antibacterial activities than their corresponding ligand. Furthermore, the M-complexes showed higher potent cytotoxic effect toward HEK-293, human colorectal HepG-2, HCT-116 and MCF-7 adenocarcinoma cell lines compared to the free H₂L ligand. Investigation of antioxidant property represented that all the prepared complexes have better radical scavenging potencies against DPPH radicals than the free H₂L ligand. To study the molecular docking of proposed compounds versus Tyrosine kinases receptor (TKR), we used AutoDock1.5.6rc3® suite. The current compounds (H₂L, VOL, ZrOL and ZnL(H₂O)₂) and STI were found to bind with C-kit of TKR with HBs at ILE789.A, ILE808.A, ASP810.A, GLU640.A and TYR846 amino acid residue and the binding energies were - 8.9, -8.93, -8.83, -1.48 and -10.39 kcal/mol respectively.

Novel Green Biosynthesis of 5-Fluorouracil Chromium Nanoparticles Using Harpullia pendula Extract for Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third highest major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hence, many strategies and approaches have been widely developed for cancer treatment. This work prepared and evaluated the antitumor activity of 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) loaded chromium nanoparticles (5-FuCrNPs). The green biosynthesis approach using Harpullia (H) pendula aqueous extract was used for CrNPs preparation, which was further loaded with 5-Fu. The prepared NPs were characterized for morphology using scanning and transmission electron microscopes (SEM and TEM). The results revealed the formation of uniform, mono-dispersive, and highly stable CrNPs with a mean size of 23 nm. Encapsulation of 5-Fu over CrNPs, with a higher drug loading efficiency, was successful with a mean size of 29 nm being produced. In addition, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) were also used for the investigation. The drug 5-Fu was adsorbed on the surface of biosynthesized CrNPs in order to overcome its clinical resistance and increase its activity against CRC cells. Box–Behnken Design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to characterize and optimize the formulation factors (5-Fu concentration, CrNP weight, and temperature). Furthermore, the antitumor activity of the prepared 5-FuCrNPs was tested against CRC cells (CACO-2). This in vitro antitumor study demonstrated that 5-Fu-loaded CrNPs markedly decreased the IC50 of 5-Fu and exerted more cytotoxicity at nearly all concentrations than 5-Fu alone. In conclusion, 5-FuCrNPs is a promising drug delivery system for the effective treatment of CRC.

Biological evaluation, molecular docking and DNA interaction studies of coordination compounds gleaned from a pyrazolone incorporated ligand

In this work, we have synthesized a few novel mononuclear complexes of Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) using a pyrazolone-derived Schiff base ligand. They were characterized by spectroscopic and analytical methods. The elemental analyses, UV-Vis, magnetic moment values and molar conductance of the complexes reveal that the complexes adopt an octahedral arrangement around the central metal ions. The interaction of complexes with CT-DNA was studied by absorption spectral titration and viscosity measurements. The observed data show that the complexes bind with CT-DNA via an intercalation mode. Efficient pUC18 DNA cleavage ability of the synthesized compounds was explored by gel electrophoresis. The antimicrobial activity of these compounds against a set of bacterial and fungal strains reveals that the complexes exhibit better activity than the free ligand. Moreover, all the complexes were evaluated against two cancer (HeLa and HepG2) and one normal (NHDF) cell lines. The data were compared with cisplatin. Anti-inflammatory activity has been experimentally validated which proves that theoretical predictions concur with the experimental results. In addition, molecular docking studies have been performed to consider the nature of binding mode and binding affinity of these compounds with DNA (1BNA) and protein (3hb5). These studies reveal that the mode of binding is intercalation and the complexes have higher binding energy scores than the free ligand.