Synthesis and characterization of poly[(ferulic acid)-alt-(glycine)]

Improving thermal and mechanical properties of biomass-based polymers using structurally ordered polyesters from ricinoleic acid and 4-hydroxycinnamic acids

Biomass-based copolymers with alternating ricinoleic acid and 4-hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives (p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and sinapinic acid) exhibit a repeating structure based on soft and hard segments, derived from ricinoleic and 4-hydroxycinnamic acids, respectively. To achieve this alternating sequence, copolymers were synthesised by the self-condensation of hetero-dimeric monomers derived by the pre-coupling of methyl ricinolate and 4-hydroxycinnamic acid. The glass transition temperature (T_g) was observed to increase as the number of methoxy groups on the main chain increased; the T_g values of poly(coumaric acid-alt-ricinoleic acid), poly(ferulic acid-alt-ricinoleic acid), and poly(sinapinic acid-alt-ricinoleic acid) are −15 °C, −4 °C, and 24 °C respectively, 58 °C, 69 °C, and 97 °C higher than that of poly(ricinoleic acid). The polymers were processed into highly flexible, visually transparent films. Among them, poly(sinapinic acid-alt-ricinoleic acid) bearing two methoxy groups on each cinnamoyl unit, is mechanically the strongest polymer, with an elastic modulus of 126.5 MPa and a tensile strength at break of 15.47 MPa.

The synthesis of structurally ordered polyesters derived from ricinoleic acid and 4-hydroxycinnamic acids improves the thermal and mechanical properties.

Synthesis of novel feruloyl dipeptides with proapoptotic potential against different cancer cell lines

In this study, a series of novel N-feruloyl dipeptides (10-17) have been synthesized through the coupling of N-feruloyl amino acids (6-9) with glycine/alanine methyl ester hydrochloride. Structures of the peptides were assigned using 1D and 2D NMR and HRESIMS. According to initial in vitro cytotoxic screening against the cervix carcinoma cell line KB-3-1, aromatic dipeptides (12, 13, 16, 17) were the most potent ones among all tested feruloyl dipeptides. Accordingly, these peptides were further intensively investigated as potential anticancer agents against a panel of ten cancer cell lines from different tissue origin. Based on that, compound 17 showed the strongest cytotoxic efficiency towards the whole panel of tested cell lines with IC₅₀ values from 2.1 to 7.9 μM. By contrast, the dipeptides 12, 13 and 16 showed moderate to weak cytotoxicity (IC₅₀ 16.1-28.3 or >30, 5.7-21.9 and 3.9-21.2 or ≥30 μM, respectively). Mechanistically, compound 17 induced a strong dissipation of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential and an early activation of caspase 3/7 in the triple-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. In an in vivo model, compound 17 inhibited growth, proliferation and induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 xenografted onto the chick chorioallantoic membrane. All the synthesized compounds were also tested against a set of pathogenic bacterial strains, displaying no potential activity.