Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel 1,4-Pentadien-3-one Derivatives Containing a Sulfonamide Moiety

Novel curcumin derivatives N17 exert anti-cancer effects through the CSNK1G3/AKT axis in triple-negative breast cancer

Curcumin, extracted from Zingiberaceae and Araceae rhizomes, is clinically used for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties. Its safety and potential make it a promising base for designing enhanced derivatives. The focus now is on optimizing curcumin and synthesizing more potent 1,4-pentadien-3-ones, which have anti-cancer activities. In the realm of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive and invasive form with high metastatic potential, the need for innovative treatments is acute. The challenges posed by chemotherapy resistance, recurrence, and TNBC's heterogeneity have emphasized the necessity for novel therapeutic approaches. Our strategy involved the integration of a quinoxaline ring into 1,4-pentadien-3-one, followed by subsequent modifications. In this study, N17 demonstrated the ability to induce cell death and effectively suppress cell proliferation in breast cancer cells. These observed anti-cancer effects were attributed to the inhibition of p-AKT(S473), a key regulator implicated in both cell apoptosis and the modulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition process in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, our investigation indicated N17 achieves its inhibitory effects on p-AKT(S473) by specifically targeting the CSNK1G3 protein. Remarkably, N17 not only impedes the EMT process but also triggers apoptosis through the CSNK1G3/AKT signaling axis. These findings provide the critical role of CSNK1G3 as an anti-cancer regulator in TNBC, establishing N17 as a pharmacological intervention with immense promise for treating cancer metastasis.

Design, Synthesis, Bioactivity, and Tentative Exploration of Action Mode for Benzyl Ester-Containing Derivatives

The active splicing strategy has witnessed improvement in bioactivity and antifungal spectra in pesticide discovery. Herein, a series of simple-structured molecules (Y1-Y53) containing chloro-substituted benzyl esters were designed using the above strategy. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis demonstrated that the fatty acid fragment-structured esters were more effective than those containing an aromatic acid moiety or naphthenic acid part. Compounds Y36 and Y41, which featured a thiazole-4-acid moiety and trifluoromethyl aliphatic acid part, respectively, exhibited excellent in vivo curative activity (89.4%, 100 mg/L Y36) and in vitro fungicidal activity (EC50 = 0.708 mg/L, Y41) against Botrytis cinerea. Determination of antifungal spectra and analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), membrane permeability, cell peroxidation, ergosterol content, oxalic acid pathways, and enzymatic assays were performed separately here. Compound Y41 is cost effective due to its simple structure and shows promise as a disease control candidate. In addition, Y41 might act on a novel target through a new pathway that disrupts the cell membrane integrity by inducing cell peroxidation.

Synthesis and agricultural antimicrobial evaluation of new quinazoline derivatives containing both a piperazine linker and the N-acetyl moiety

BACKGROUND

To discover more efficient agricultural antimicrobial agents, a series of new quinazoline derivatives containing both a piperazine linker and the N-acetyl moiety were prepared and assessed for their antibacterial and antifungal activities.

RESULTS

All the target compounds were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR as well as high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and the chemical structure of the most potent compound E19 incorporating a 4-trifluoromethoxy substituent was clearly confirmed via single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. The bioassay results indicated that some compounds possessed notable inhibitory effects in vitro against the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc). For example, compound E19 had an EC50 (effective concentration for 50% activity) value of 7.1 μg/mL towards this pathogen, approximately 15- and 10-fold more effective than the commercial bactericides thiodiazole copper and bismerthiazol (EC50 = 110.2 and 72.4 μg/mL, respectively). Subsequently, the mechanistic studies showed that compound E19 likely exerted its antibacterial efficacies by altering the cell morphology, increasing the permeability of bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, suppressing the production of bacterial extracellular polysaccharides and the extracellular enzyme activities (amylase and cellulase), and blocking the swimming motility of Xoc. Moreover, the proteomic analysis revealed that compound E19 could reduce the bacterial flagellar biosynthesis and decrease the flagellar motility by down-regulating the expression of the related differential proteins.

CONCLUSION

Compound E19 exhibited good potential for further development as a bactericide candidate for control of Xoc. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Design, Synthesis and Antifungal Activity of Novel 1,4-Pentadiene-3-one Containing Quinazolinone

Twenty 1,4-pentadiene-3-one derivatives containing quinazolinone (W1-W20) were designed and synthesized. The bioactivity test results showed that some compounds had antifungal activities in vitro. W12 showed excellent bioactivity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (S. sclerotiorum) and Phomopsis sp., with EC₅₀ values of 0.70 and 3.84 μg/mL, which are higher than those of the control drug azoxystrobin at 8.15 and 17.25 μg/mL. In vivo activity tests were carried out on oilseed rape and kiwifruit. The protective effect of W12 on oilseed rape infected with S. sclerotiorum (91.7 and 87.3%) was better than that of azoxystrobin (90.2 and 79.8%) at 100 and 50 μg/mL, respectively, and the protective effect on kiwifruit infected with Phomopsis sp. (96.2%) was better than that of azoxystrobin (94.6%) at 200 μg/mL. Scanning electron microscopy results showed the hyphae of S. sclerotiorum treated with compound W12 abnormally collapsed and shriveled, inhibiting the growth of mycelium and, thus, laying the inhibiting effect on S. sclerotiorum. The results of the mechanism research showed that the action of W12 changed the mycelial morphology of S. sclerotiorum, affected the permeability of cells, increased the leakage of cytoplasm and allowed the cell membrane to break down. This study shows that 1,4-pentadiene-3-one derivatives containing quinazolinone have good effects on plant fungi and the potential for becoming new fungicides.