Design, Synthesis, Anticancer Evaluation and Molecular Modeling Studies of New Thiazolidinone-Benzoate Scaffold as EGFR Inhibitors, Cell Cycle Interruption and Apoptosis Inducers in HepG2

Synthesis of new anticancer candidates with protein kinases inhibitory potency is a major goal of pharmaceutical science and synthetic research. This current work represents the synthesis of a series of substituted benzoate-thiazolidinones. Most prepared thiazolidinones were evaluated in vitro for their potential anticancer activity against three cell lines by MTT assay, and they found to be more effective against cancer cell lines with no harm toward normal cells. Thiazolidinones 5 c and 5 h were further evaluated to be kinase inhibitors against EGFR showing effective inhibitory impact (with IC50 value; 0.2±0.009 and 0.098±0.004 μM, for 5 c and 5 h, respectively). Furthermore, 5 c and 5 h have effects on cell cycle and apoptosis induction capability in HepG2 cell lines by DNA-flow cytometry analysis and annexin V-FITC apoptosis assay, respectively. The results showed that they have effect of disrupting the cell cycle and causing cell mortality by apoptosis in the treated cells. Moreover, molecular docking studies showed better binding patterns for 5 c and 5 h with the active site of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein kinase (PDB code 1M17). Finally, toxicity risk and physicochemical characterization by Osiris method was performed on most of the compounds, revealing excellent properties as possible drugs.

Synthesis, antimicrobial activities, docking studies and computational calculations of new bis-1,4-phenylene -1H-1,2,3-triazole derivatives utilized ultrasonic energy

In this elucidation, we studied the utility of condensation reaction between 1,4-phenylenediamine (1) with acetyl acetone (2) with hydrazine hydrate utilized ultrasonic energy in one step reaction to afford the corresponding 1,1'-(1,4-phenylenebis (5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-1,4-diyl))bis(ethan-1-one) (4) in excellent yield. The ethanol solution of bis triazole (4) and different aldehyde derivatives were sonicated at 75 °C for 2 h to afford chalcone derivatives 5a-d which were confirmed via spectral data such as FTIR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR and mass spectra. Moreover, the intermolecular cyclization of chalcone (5a) with NH₂NH₂ in sodium hydroxide solution to give the corresponding 4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)-1H-indole (6) using ultrasonic energy for 4 h, while the Michael addition of chalcones (5a) and (5 b) with thiourea in basic condition to afford the corresponding pyrimidine-2-thiol derivatives (7) and (9). Treatment of compound (7) with NH₂NH₂ to afford 1,4-bis(4-(2-hydrazineyl-6-(1H-indol-3-yl)pyrimidin-4-yl) derivatives (8). The synthesized compounds were screened against various microbial strains and displayed excellent antimicrobial potential. Additionally, the docking studies of these nine compounds were carried out with (PDB ID:3t88), (PDB ID:2wje), (PDB ID:4ynt) and (PDB ID:1tgh) which were attached with different amino acids with shortage bond length, and it was noticed that PMTS₁, PMTS₂ and PMTS₃ were the most stable compounds with the lowest energy affinity which is compatible with biological study. Furthermore, the theoretical investigation of bis-triazole compounds were optimized via DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d) level which showed the hyperconjugation of nitrogen atoms and elucidated their physical parameters and NBO charges and confirmed their stability and biological activity.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Ultrasonically Assisted N-Cyanoacylation and Synthesis of Alkyl(4-(3-cyano-4,6-dimethyl-2-oxopyridin-1(2H)-yl)benzoyl)amino Acid Ester Derivatives

This work represents the use of N-3-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-3-oxopropanenitrile as a cyanoacetylating agent for the synthesis of cyanoacetamide benzoic acid and benzophenone derivatives by two different methods, namely, conventional heating and ultrasonication. The cyanoacetamide derivatives were subjected to cyclization to produce N-substituted 2-pyridone derivatives under conventional heating and by an ultrasonic method as well. The ultrasonic method afforded the products in less reaction time with high yields and purities compared to the conventional method, as observed from their spectral data. N-(4-Carboxy phenyl)-4,6-dimethyl-3-cyano-2-pyridone was coupled with different amino acid esters by the OxymaPure/DIC methodology under traditional and ultrasonic conditions. Again, ultrasonication assisted the coupling step and afforded the products with higher yields and purities compared to the traditional method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, NMR (¹H and ¹³C), elemental analysis, and LC-MS were used to determine the structures of all compounds. Finally, a feature of this protocol is exploring the utilization of ultrasonication as an eco-friendly alternative conventional heating method for N-cyanoacylation and synthesis of N-substituted pyridinone derivatives and as a coupling method for the formation of an amide bond, which might be of interest for many researchers.

Agonist-mediated switching of ion selectivity in TPC2 differentially promotes lysosomal function

Ion selectivity is a defining feature of a given ion channel and is considered immutable. Here we show that ion selectivity of the lysosomal ion channel TPC2, which is hotly debated (Calcraft et al., 2009; Guo et al., 2017; Jha et al., 2014; Ruas et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2012), depends on the activating ligand. A high-throughput screen identified two structurally distinct TPC2 agonists. One of these evoked robust Ca²⁺-signals and non-selective cation currents, the other weaker Ca²⁺-signals and Na⁺-selective currents. These properties were mirrored by the Ca²⁺-mobilizing messenger, NAADP and the phosphoinositide, PI(3,5)P₂, respectively. Agonist action was differentially inhibited by mutation of a single TPC2 residue and coupled to opposing changes in lysosomal pH and exocytosis. Our findings resolve conflicting reports on the permeability and gating properties of TPC2 and they establish a new paradigm whereby a single ion channel mediates distinct, functionally-relevant ionic signatures on demand.