Design and synthesis of 4-arylpiperidinyl amide and N-arylpiperdin-3-yl-cyclopropane carboxamide derivatives as novel melatonin receptor ligands

Applications of palladium-catalyzed C-N cross-coupling reactions in pharmaceutical compounds

C-N cross-coupling bond formation reactions have become valuable approaches to synthesizing anilines and their derivatives, known as important chemical compounds. Recent developments in this field have focused on versatile catalysts, simple operation methods, and green reaction conditions. This review article presents an overview of C-N cross-coupling reactions in pharmaceutical compound synthesis reports. Selected examples of N-arylation reactions of various nitrogen-based compounds and aryl halides are defined for preparing pharmaceutical molecules.

General Method for the Amination of Aryl Halides with Primary and Secondary Alkyl Amines via Nickel Photocatalysis

The Buchwald-Hartwig C-N coupling reaction has been ranked as one of the 20 most frequently used reactions in medicinal chemistry. Owing to its much lower cost and higher reactivity toward less reactive aryl chlorides than palladium, the C-N coupling reaction catalyzed by Ni-based catalysts has received a great deal of attention. However, there appear to be no universal, practical Ni catalytic systems so far that could enable the coupling of electron-rich and electron-poor aryl halides with both primary and secondary alkyl amines. In this study, it is reported that a Ni(II)-bipyridine complex catalyzes efficient C-N coupling of aryl chlorides and bromides with various primary and secondary alkyl amines under direct excitation with light. Intramolecular C-N coupling is also demonstrated. The feasibility and applicability of the protocol in organic synthesis is attested by more than 200 examples.

Integrating In Silico and In Vitro Approaches to Screen the Antidiabetic Properties from Tabernaemontana divaricata (Jasmine) Flowers

The purpose of this study was to assess different in vitro biological activities such as phytochemical constituents, enzymatic antioxidant status, cytotoxicity through hemolytic activity, and antidiabetic potential of plant methanolic extract through glucose uptake by yeast cells. Further, using in silico approach by the SwissADME technique the drug-likeness rules for bioactive components were characterized, while potential interactions were identified via molecular docking of a ligand with target proteins by GOLD 5.3.0. The results showed that T. divaricata was rich in TPC and TFC, i.e., 62.32 ± 4.02 and 24.53 ± 0.61, respectively, and the cytotoxic potential was 10% towards human RBCs, while protein estimation revealed the presence of protein in the extract, which was 22.82 ± 4.6. DPPH assay in comparison with ascorbic acid and several enzymatic assays, such as CAT, SOD, and POD, showed maximum antioxidant potential, i.e.,15.9 ± 2.33%, 65.57 ± 13.4%, 3.02 ± 3.4, 15.87 ± 0.5, and 0.74 ± 0.2, respectively. Glucose uptake by yeast cells, i.e., α-amylase and α-glucosidase, showed a maximum antidiabetic potential such as 75.11 ± 1.44%, 41.81 ± 3.75%, and 35.9 ± 1.24%, respectively. Our results indicate that the methanolic extract of T. divaricata has antioxidant potential and inhibits α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity and possesses maximum antidiabetic potential. The results provide scientific proof that the medicinal plant being studied is a powerful source of natural antioxidant, antidiabetic, and medicinally significant substances. In silico study, using a molecular docking, unveiled that two compounds showed good interactions with 5kzw protein with considerable binding affinities and fulfilled docking parameters. It may conclude that T. divaricata is an important vegetable with a potent source of natural antioxidants and antidiabetic activity justifying its traditional use in green therapeutics.

Melatonin receptor ligands: A pharmaco-chemical perspective

Melatonin MT₁ and MT₂ receptor ligands have been vigorously explored for the last 4 decades. Inspection of approximately 80 publications in the field revealed that most melatonergic ligands were structural analogues of melatonin combining three essential features of the parent compound: an aromatic ring bearing a methoxy group and an amide side chain in a relative arrangement similar to that present in melatonin. While several series of MT₂ -selective agents-agonists, antagonists, or partial agonists-were reported, the field was lacking MT₁ -selective agents. Herein, we describe various approaches toward the development of melatonergic ligands, keeping in mind that most of the molecules/pharmacophores obtained were essentially melatonin copies, even though diverse tri- or tetra-cyclic compounds were explored. In addition to lack of structural diversity, only few studies examined the activity of the reported melatonergic ligands in vivo. Moreover, an extensive pharmacological characterization including biopharmaceutical stability, pharmacokinetic properties, specificity toward other major receptors to name a few remained scarce. For example, many of the antagonists described were not stable in vivo, were not selective for the melatonin receptor subtype of interest, and were not fully characterized from a pharmacological standpoint. Indeed, virtual screening of large compound libraries has led to the recent discovery of potent and selective melatonin receptor agonists and partial agonists of new chemotypes. Having said this, the melatonergic field is still lacking subtype-selective melatonin receptor antagonists "active" in vivo, which are critical to our understanding of melatonin and melatonin receptors' role in basic physiology and disease.

Nickel-Catalyzed Intramolecular Desulfitative C-N Coupling: A Synthesis of Aromatic Amines

A nickel-catalyzed intramolecular C-N coupling reaction via SO₂ extrusion is presented. The use of a catalytic amount of BPh₃ allows the transformation to take place under much milder conditions (60 °C) than previously reported C-N coupling reactions by CO or CO₂ extrusion (160-180 °C). In addition, this method displays good functional group tolerance and versatility, as it can be applied to the synthesis of dialkyl aryl amines, alkyl diaryl amines, and triaryl amines. The robustness of the desulfitative C-N coupling is demonstrated by three high-yielding gram-scale reactions.

Late Stage Functionalization of Secondary Amines via a Cobalt-Catalyzed Electrophilic Amination of Organozinc Reagents

A general preparation of polyfunctional hydroxylamine benzoates from the corresponding secondary amines is reported. This convenient synthesis allows the setup of a late-stage functionalization of various secondary amines, including pharmaceuticals and peptidic derivatives. Thus, a cross-coupling of hydroxylamine benzoates with various alkyl-, aryl-, and heteroaryl-zinc chlorides in the presence of 5 mol % CoCl₂ (25 °C, 2 h) provides a range of polyfunctional tertiary amines. This method was used to prepare penfluridol and gepirone.

Applications of Palladium-Catalyzed C-N Cross-Coupling Reactions

Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions that form C–N bonds have become useful methods to synthesize anilines and aniline derivatives, an important class of compounds throughout chemical research. A key factor in the widespread adoption of these methods has been the continued development of reliable and versatile catalysts that function under operationally simple, user-friendly conditions. This review provides an overview of Pd-catalyzed N-arylation reactions found in both basic and applied chemical research from 2008 to the present. Selected examples of C–N cross-coupling reactions between nine classes of nitrogen-based coupling partners and (pseudo)aryl halides are described for the synthesis of heterocycles, medicinally relevant compounds, natural products, organic materials, and catalysts.

Synthetic melatoninergic ligands: achievements and prospects

Pineal hormone melatonin is widely used in the treatment of disorders of circadian rhythms. The presence of melatonin receptors in various animal tissues motivates the use of this hormone in some other diseases. For this reason, in recent years investigators continued the search for synthetic analogues of melatonin which are metabolically stable and selective to receptors. This review includes recent information about the most famous melatonin analogues, their structure, properties, and physiological features of the interaction with melatonin receptors.

Molecular docking studies for the identification of novel melatoninergic inhibitors for acetylserotonin-O-methyltransferase using different docking routines

Background

N-Acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT) is an enzyme which by converting nor-melatonin to melatonin catalyzes the final reaction in melatonin biosynthesis in tryptophan metabolism pathway. High Expression of ASMT gene is evident in PPTs. The presence of abnormally high levels of ASMT in pineal gland could serve as an indication of the existence of pineal parenchymal tumors (PPTs) in the brain (J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 65: 675–684, 2006). Different levels of melatonin are used as a trait marker for prescribing the mood disorders e.g. Seasonal affective disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder. In addition, melatonin levels can also be used to calculate the severity of a patient’s illness at a given point in time.

Methods

Seventy three melatoninergic inhibitors were docked with acetylserotonin-O-methyltransferase in order to identify the potent inhibitor against the enzyme. The chemical nature of the protein and ligands greatly influence the performance of docking routines. Keeping this fact in view, critical evaluation of the performance of four different commonly used docking routines: AutoDock/Vina, GOLD, FlexX and FRED were performed. An evaluation criterion was based on the binding affinities/docking scores and experimental bioactivities.

Results and conclusion

Results indicated that both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions contributed significantly for its ligand binding and the compound selected as potent inhibitor is having minimum binding affinity, maximum GoldScore and minimum FlexX energy. The correlation value of r² = 0. 66 may be useful in the selection of correct docked complexes based on the energy without having prior knowledge of the active site. This may lead to further understanding of structures, their reliability and Biomolecular activity especially in connection with bipolar disorders.

Synthesis, evaluation, and radiolabeling of new potent positive allosteric modulators of the metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 as potential tracers for positron emission tomography imaging

The synthesis and in vitro and in vivo evaluation of a new series of 7-(phenylpiperidinyl)-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]pyridines, which were conveniently radiolabeled with carbon-11, as potential positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers for in vivo imaging of the allosteric binding site of the metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptor subtype 2 are described. The synthesized compounds proved to be potent and selective positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of the mGlu receptor 2 (mGluR2) in a [³⁵S]GTPγS binding assay and were able to displace an mGluR2 PAM radioligand, which we had previously developed, with IC₅₀ values in the low nanomolar range. The most promising candidates were radiolabeled and subjected to biodistribution studies and radiometabolite analysis in rats. Preliminary small-animal PET (μPET) studies in rats indicated that [¹¹C]20f binds specifically and reversibly to an mGluR2 allosteric site, strongly suggesting that it is a promising candidate for PET imaging of mGluR2 in the brain.

Molecular pharmacology of the mouse melatonin receptors MT₁ and MT₂

The main melatonin receptors are two G-protein coupled receptors named MT(1) and MT(2). Having described the molecular pharmacology of the human versions of these receptors, we turned to two of the three species most useful in studying melatonin physiology: rat and sheep (a diurnal species used to understand the relationship between circadian rhythm and depression). We also employed previously used compounds to describe the mouse melatonin receptors; despite the early cloning of mouse receptors, few molecular pharmacology studies on these receptors exist. To our surprise, we detected no major differences between the data obtained from mice and those from other species.