Simple and efficient strategy to synthesize PEG-aldehyde derivatives for hydrazone orthogonal chemistry

Striving for Uniformity: A Review on Advances and Challenges To Achieve Uniform Polyethylene Glycol

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is the polymer of choice in drug delivery systems due to its biocompatibility and hydrophilicity. For over 20 years, this polymer has been widely used in the drug delivery of small drugs, proteins, oligonucleotides, and liposomes, improving the stability and pharmacokinetics of many drugs. However, despite the extensive clinical experience with PEG, concerns have emerged related to its use. These include hypersensitivity, purity, and nonbiodegradability. Moreover, conventional PEG is a mixture of polymers that can complicate drug synthesis and purification leading to unwanted immunogenic reactions. Studies have shown that uniform PEGylated drugs may be more effective than conventional PEGylated drugs as they can overcome issues related to molecular heterogeneity and immunogenicity. This has led to significant research efforts to develop synthetic procedures to produce uniform PEGs (monodisperse PEGs). As a result, iterative step-by-step controlled synthesis methods have been created over time and have shown promising results. Nonetheless, these procedures have presented numerous challenges due to their iterative nature and the requirement for multiple purification steps, resulting in increased costs and time consumption. Despite these challenges, the synthetic procedures went through several improvements. This review summarizes and discusses recent advances in the synthesis of uniform PEGs and its derivatives with a focus on overall yields, scalability, and purity of the polymers. Additionally, the available characterization methods for assessing polymer monodispersity are discussed as well as uniform PEG applications, side effects, and possible alternative polymers that can overcome the drawbacks.

ROS-Generating Poly(Ethylene Glycol)-Conjugated Fe3O4 Nanoparticles as Cancer-Targeting Sustained Release Carrier of Doxorubicin

Purpose

Site-specific drug delivery systems can contribute to the development and execution of effective cancer treatment. Due to its favorable features (including high biocompatibility, high hydrophilicity and ease of functionalization), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) has been widely adopted to design drug carriers. Generating carriers for delivery of hydrophobic anticancer agents, however, is still a challenge in carrier design.

Methods

In the first step, PEG is functionalized with dialdehyde to generate PEG-(CHO)₂ using EDC/NHS chemistry. In the second step, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles are functionalized with amino groups to generate Fe₃O₄-NH₂. In the third step, PEG-(CHO)₂, Fe₃O₄-NH₂ and doxorubicin (DOX) react in an acidic environment to yield a drug conjugate (PEGDA-MN-DOX), which is subsequently characterized by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, SEM, TEM, DLS, TGA, and DSC.

Results

The chemical functionalities of the drug conjugate are confirmed by FTIR, H-NMRand XRD analysis.The release pattern of PEGDA-MN-DOX is investigated at 25 and 37 °C at different pH values. The results indicate that the developed drug conjugate cannot only behave as a sustained-release carrier, but can also generate a significant level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to a high level of toxicity against MCF-7 cells while still showing excellent biocompatibility in 3T3 cells.

Conclusion

The reported conjugate shows anticancer potential, cancer-targeting ability, and ROS-generating capacity for effective drug encapsulation and sustained release in chemotherapy.

Design and synthesis of novel quinazolinones conjugated ibuprofen, indole acetamide, or thioacetohydrazide as selective COX-2 inhibitors: anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anticancer activities

Novel quinazolinones conjugated with indole acetamide (4a–c), ibuprofen (7a–e), or thioacetohydrazide (13a,b, and 14a-d) were designed to increase COX-2 selectivity. The three synthesised series exhibited superior COX-2 selectivity compared with the previously reported quinazolinones and their NSAID analogue and had equipotent COX-2 selectivity as celecoxib. Compared with celecoxib, 4 b, 7c, and 13 b showed similar anti-inflammatory activity in vivo, while 13 b and 14a showed superior inhibition of the inflammatory mediator nitric oxide, and 7 showed greater antioxidant potential in macrophages cells. Moreover, all selected compounds showed improved analgesic activity and 13 b completely abolished the pain response. Additionally, compound 4a showed anticancer activity in tested cell lines HCT116, HT29, and HCA7. Docking results were consistent with COX-1/2 enzyme assay results. In silico studies suggest their high oral bioavailability. The overall findings for compounds (4a,b, 7c, 13 b, and 14c) support their potential role as anti-inflammatory agents.

Effects of Solvent Polarity on the Reaction of Aldehydes and Ketones with a Hydrazide-Bound Scavenger Resin

Polymer-supported reagents have been extensively studied and used in various applications, such as condensation reactions and multiple component reactions. This paper examines the reactions between a solid-functionalized resin, named Amb15-Iso, and aldehydes and ketones that have been solubilized in different solvents. The reactions between these molecules and a hydrazide (isoniazid) in both neutral and acidic media were also studied. The results showed that the solvent polarity influenced the kinetics of the reaction and the yields of carbonyl compounds that were captured by the resin, particularly, for less-reactive molecules. The reactions using the resin were faster than those using free isoniazid in solution, likely because the acidic sites remaining in the resin can catalyze the reaction, increasing the rate of capture. A high dependence on the presence of acidic compounds and the rate of the reaction was observed, in which trifluoroacetic acid was used to catalyze the reaction between the tested molecules and isoniazid in solution. The differential reactivities of the examined ketones and aldehydes in these condensation reactions demonstrate that the resin can provide selective criteria, preferentially scavenging aldehydes from solution. While benzaldehyde reacted quite quickly with the resin, acetophenone barely had any reaction and remained in solution.

Crystal structure of N′-(2-phenylacetyl)thiophene-2-carbohydrazide monohydrate, C13H14N2O3S

C13H14N2O3S, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 27.9910(12) Å, b = 6.5721(3) Å, c = 14.2821(7) Å, β = 92.600(3)°, V = 2624.6(2) Å3, Z = 8, R gt(F) = 0.042, wR ref(F 2) = 0.105, T = 100 K.