Antifungal and cytotoxic substances from the stem barks of Desmos chinensis

Chalcone: A Promising Bioactive Scaffold in Medicinal Chemistry

Chalcones are a class of privileged scaffolds with high medicinal significance due to the presence of an α,β-unsaturated ketone functionality. Numerous functional modifications of chalcones have been reported, along with their pharmacological behavior. The present review aims to summarize the structures from natural sources, synthesis methods, biological characteristics against infectious and non-infectious diseases, and uses of chalcones over the past decade, and their structure–activity relationship studies are detailed in depth. This critical review provides guidelines for the future design and synthesis of various chalcones. In addition, this could be highly supportive for medicinal chemists to develop more promising candidates for various infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Biologically Active Constituents from Plants of the Genus Desmos

The combination of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants with scientific rationale has yielded positive results in recent years. Bioactive compounds isolated from herbaceous plants have long been used as drugs that benefit human health, as well as providing useful compounds for drug development lead compound optimization. This chapter aims to provide a systematic overview of the structural types of Desmos secondary metabolites, along with their biological potential. Various chromatographic and spectroscopic methods have been utilized for isolating, purifying, and elucidating the structures of compounds from Desmos species. From 1982 to the present time, more than 200 metabolites have been isolated from members of this genus. Desmos spp. constituents include terpenoids, phytosterols, polyoxygenated cyclohexanes and cyclohexenes, oxepinones, fatty acids, with flavonoids, alkaloids, and miscellaneous phenols being the predominant compounds. The essential oils of Desmos species have also been investigated. Both crude plant extracts and isolated compounds from this genus have been evaluated for their biological activities. Desmos constituents have been found to exhibit cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and aromatase and NFAT transcriptive inhibition effects.

α-Glucosidase inhibitory activity of compounds isolated from the twig and leaf extracts of Desmos dumosus

Four new compounds, (+)-(2S)-desmosdumosone (1), (+)-(2R)-7,8-dimethoxy-5-hydroxyflavanone (7), (+)-(2R)-7-methoxychamanetin (9), and (+)-(1ˊR,2ˊR)-phebalosin (18), and 25 known compounds were isolated from the twig and leaf extracts of Desmos dumosus. Compounds (±)-7 and (±)-9 were isolated as racemates and their enantiomers were separated by chiral HPLC. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods as well as comparisons made from the literature. The absolute configuration of (+)-(1ʹR,2ʹR)-18 was established by X-ray diffraction analysis using Cu Kα radiation and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectoscopy. In contrast, the absolute configuration of compounds (+)-(2S)-1, (+)-(2R)-7, and (+)-(2R)-9 were identified by comparing their ECD spectra and specific rotations with those of reported known compounds. Compounds 9, 11, 13, 14, 22, 25, and 28 showed α-glucosidase inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ values ranging from 5.3-52.7 μM, much better than that of standard control (acarbose, IC₅₀ value 83.5 μM). Compound 13 was the most active with an IC₅₀ value of 5.3 μM.

Direct conversion of secondary propargyl alcohols into 1,3-di-arylpropanone via DBU promoted redox isomerization and palladium assisted chemoselective hydrogenation in a single pot operation

Palladium(ii)acetate is found to be an efficient catalyst for the single-step conversion of secondary propargyl alcohols to 1,3-diarylpropanone derivatives under mild basic conditions.

Desmoschinensisflavones A and B, two rare flavones having a hybrid benzyl benzoate ester-flavone structural framework from Desmos chinensis Lour

Two rare flavones having a hybrid benzyl benzoate ester-flavone structural framework, desmoschinensisflavones A and B (1 and 2), together with 12 known compounds (3–14) were isolated from the fruit, leaf, and twig extracts of Desmos chinensis (red flower). The new structures were characterized by UV, IR, NMR, and HRESITOFMS data. Desmoschinensisflavones A and B have a distinctive skeleton of benzoate ester-flavones with a C-4′′ and C-6 and C-8 connection via a methylene group, respectively. Plausible biosynthesis pathways to compounds 1 and 2 are proposed based on an intermolecular nucleophilic 1,4-addition to ortho-quinone intermediates. Compounds 6–8 and 12 showed weakly antioxidant inhibition with IC₅₀ values in the range of 65.4–74.6 μM.

Two rare flavones having a hybrid benzyl benzoate ester-flavone structural framework, desmoschinensisflavones A and B (1 and 2), together with 12 known compounds (3–14) were isolated from Desmos chinensis (red flower).

Alkaloids and styryllactones from Goniothalamus cheliensis

Eight previously undescribed compounds, including four alkaloids and five styryllactones together with 36 known compounds were isolated from the twig and leaf extracts of Goniothalamus cheliensis. Their structures were elucidated by extensive analysis of their spectroscopic data. The absolute configuration of (-)-(4S,5S,6R,7S,8S)-goniochelienlactone and (-)-(4S,5S,6R,7S,8S)-7-acetylgoniochelienlactone were established from single crystal X-ray analysis using Cu Kα radiation. The absolute configurations of the other related compounds were identified by comparisons of their ECD spectra with those of related known compounds. Most of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicities against human colorectal cancer cells (HCT-116). Griffithazanone A was the most potent with an IC₅₀ value of 2.39 μM.

Chalcone: A Privileged Structure in Medicinal Chemistry

Privileged structures have been widely used as an effective template in medicinal chemistry for drug discovery. Chalcone is a common simple scaffold found in many naturally occurring compounds. Many chalcone derivatives have also been prepared due to their convenient synthesis. These natural products and synthetic compounds have shown numerous interesting biological activities with clinical potentials against various diseases. This review aims to highlight the recent evidence of chalcone as a privileged scaffold in medicinal chemistry. Multiple aspects of chalcone will be summarized herein, including the isolation of novel chalcone derivatives, the development of new synthetic methodologies, the evaluation of their biological properties, and the exploration of the mechanisms of action as well as target identification. This review is expected to be a comprehensive, authoritative, and critical review of the chalcone template to the chemistry community.