Phenytoin-based bivalent ligands: design, synthesis and anticonvulsant activity

Synthesis, anticancer, apoptosis-inducing activities and EGFR and VEGFR2 assay mechanistic studies of 5,5-diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives: Molecular docking studies

A new series of 5,5-diphenylhydantoin derivatives containing benzylidene or isatin (4–19) was synthesized. Their anticancer activity against HeLa, a cervical cancer cell line, A549, a lung cancer cell line, and MDA-MB-231, a breast cancer cell line, was evaluated. Compounds 13, 16, 17 and 18 exhibited potent anticancer activity with average IC₅₀ values against the tested cell lines of 109, 59, 81 and 113 μM, respectively. Compound 16 showed potent EGFR and VEGFR2 inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values of 6.17 and 0.09 μM, respectively. In addition, compound 16 induced caspase-dependent apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production at 5 and 10 μM. Moreover, a molecular docking simulation was performed for compound 16 and sunitinib to predict the protein-ligand interactions with the active site of VEGFR2.

Current Research on Antiepileptic Compounds

Epilepsy affects about 1% of the world’s population. Due to the fact all antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have some undesirable side effects and about 30% of epileptic patients are not seizure-free with the existing AEDs, there is still an urgent need for the development of more effective and safer AEDs. Based on our research work on antiepileptic compounds and other references in recent years, this review covers the reported work on antiepileptic compounds which are classified according to their structures. This review summarized 244 significant anticonvulsant compounds which are classified by functional groups according to the animal model data, although there are some limitations in the data. This review highlights the properties of new compounds endowed with promising antiepileptic properties, which may be proven to be more effective and selective, and possibly free of unwanted side effects. The reviewed compounds represent an interesting possibility to overcome refractory seizures and to reduce the percentage of patients with a poor response to drug therapy.