Synthesis, molecular properties, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of novel 3-hydroxyflavone derivatives

An insight into the role of ESIPT/TICT-based antioxidant flavone analogues in fluoro-probing diabetes-induced viscosity changes: a unified experimental and theoretical endeavour

Potent antioxidants, like 3-hydroxy flavones, attracted considerable attention due to their excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT)-based fluorescence behaviour. This article is an interesting demonstration of a series of synthetic 3-hydroxy flavone analogues having high antioxidant activity as molecular rotor-like viscosity probes. Among these flavone analogues, 4'-N,N-dimethylamino-3-hydroxy flavone (3) is the most potent one, showing the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT)-dependent fluoroprobing activity toward the blood viscosity changes associated with diabetes and free fatty acids (FFA)-induced nuclear viscosity changes of MIN6 cells. The TICT dynamics of (3), which instigates its viscosity probing activity, was comprehended with the help of DFT-based computational studies. Abnormal cellular viscosity changes are the pathological traits for various diseases, and non-toxic flavone-based viscosity probes can be useful for diagnosing such pathological conditions.

Chemical Profile of the Pits Oil from the Tunisian 'Alig' Cultivar of Phoenix dactylifera L.: In Vivo Wound Healing Potential Evaluation of a Cream Formulated from the Extracted Oil and Insights from Molecular Docking and SAR Analysis

Since ancient times the oil from date palm pits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) has been used to heal wounds. In order to prove this traditional usage of the pits, this oil was extracted from the pits of the Tunisian cultivar 'Alig' and its physico-chemical properties and the chemical composition were evaluated. The fatty acid profile, evidenced by GC, allowed to classify this oil as an oleic-myristic acid oil with a clear abundance of oleic acid (53.66 %). ¹ H and ¹³ C-NMR as well as FT-IR analyses confirmed the presence of fatty acids in triglyceride forms. Furthermore, in vivo wound healing activity of a cream formulated from the extracted oil was performed, for the first time, using a rat model and was compared to placebo cream and a commercial formulation, MEBO®. This study showed that the test cream promoted the healing of pressure ulcers better than the placebo cream and the MEBO® ointment. The results showed that this vegetable oil is able to improve the healing of infected wounds in rats, thus supporting its traditional use. The contribution of the main oleic, linoleic and myristic acids that can be derived from enzymatic hydrolysis to the healing activity of the whole pits oil was predicted by in silico study and the calculated pharmacokinetics parameters.

Trifluoromethylated Flavonoid-Based Isoxazoles as Antidiabetic and Anti-Obesity Agents: Synthesis, In Vitro α-Amylase Inhibitory Activity, Molecular Docking and Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem globally. The management of carbohydrate digestion provides an alternative treatment. Flavonoids constitute the largest group of polyphenolic compounds, produced by plants widely consumed as food and/or used for therapeutic purposes. As such, isoxazoles have attracted the attention of medicinal chemists by dint of their considerable bioactivity. Thus, the main goal of this work was to discover new hybrid molecules with properties of both flavonoids and isoxazoles in order to control carbohydrate digestion. Moreover, the trifluoromethyl group is a key entity in drug development, due to its strong lipophilicity and metabolic stability. Therefore, the present work describes the condensation of a previously synthesized trifluoromethylated flavonol with different aryl nitrile oxides, affording 13 hybrid molecules indicated as trifluoromethylated flavonoid-based isoxazoles. The structures of the obtained compounds were deduced from by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and HRMS analysis. The 15 newly synthesized compounds inhibited the activity of α-amylase with an efficacy ranging from 64.5 ± 0.7% to 94.7 ± 1.2% at a concentration of 50 μM, and with IC₅₀ values of 12.6 ± 0.2 μM-27.6 ± 1.1 μM. The most effective compounds in terms of efficacy and potency were 3b, 3h, 3j, and 3m. Among the new trifluoromethylated flavonoid-based isoxazoles, the compound 3b was the most effective inhibitor of α-amylase activity (PI = 94.7 ± 1.2% at 50 μM), with a potency (IC₅₀ = 12.6 ± 0.2 μM) similar to that of the positive control acarbose (IC₅₀ = 12.4 ± 0.1 μM). The study of the structure-activity relationship based on the molecular docking analysis showed a low binding energy, a correct mode of interaction in the active pocket of the target enzyme, and an ability to interact with the key residues of glycosidic cleavage (GLU-230 and ASP-206), explaining the inhibitory effects of α-amylase established by several derivatives.

Synthesis, inverse docking-assisted identification and in vitro biological characterization of Flavonol-based analogs of fisetin as c-Kit, CDK2 and mTOR inhibitors against melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers

Due to hurdles, including resistance, adverse effects, and poor bioavailability, among others linked with existing therapies, there is an urgent unmet need to devise new, safe, and more effective treatment modalities for skin cancers. Herein, a series of flavonol-based derivatives of fisetin, a plant-based flavonoid identified as an anti-tumorigenic agent targeting the mammalian targets of rapamycin (mTOR)-regulated pathways, were synthesized and fully characterized. New potential inhibitors of receptor tyrosine kinases (c-KITs), cyclin-dependent kinase-2 (CDK2), and mTOR, representing attractive therapeutic targets for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) treatment, were identified using inverse-docking, in vitro kinase activity and various cell-based anticancer screening assays. Eleven compounds exhibited significant inhibitory activities greater than the parent molecule against four human skin cancer cell lines, including melanoma (A375 and SK-Mel-28) and NMSCs (A431 and UWBCC1), with IC50 values ranging from 0.12 to < 15 μM. Seven compounds were identified as potentially potent single, dual or multi-kinase c-KITs, CDK2, and mTOR kinase inhibitors after inverse-docking and screening against twelve known cancer targets, followed by kinase activity profiling. Moreover, the potent compound F20, and the multi-kinase F9 and F17 targeted compounds, markedly decreased scratch wound closure, colony formation, and heightened expression levels of key cancer-promoting pathway molecular targets c-Kit, CDK2, and mTOR. In addition, these compounds downregulated Bcl-2 levels and upregulated Bax and cleaved caspase-3/7/8 and PARP levels, thus inducing apoptosis of A375 and A431 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Overall, compounds F20, F9 and F17, were identified as promising c-Kit, CDK2 and mTOR inhibitors, worthy of further investigation as therapeutics, or as adjuvants to standard therapies for the control of melanoma and NMSCs.

X-ray characterization, Hirshfeld surface analysis, DFT calculations, in vitro and in silico lipoxygenase inhibition (LOX) studies of dichlorophenyl substituted 3-hydroxy-chromenones

This work reports the synthesis, X-ray characterization and theoretical study of dichlorophenyl substituted 3-hydroxy-chromenones focusing on the low prevalence of halogen bonds and in vitro and in silico lipoxygenase inhibition (LOX) studies.