Sofosbuvir Thio-analogues: Synthesis and Antiviral Evaluation of the First Novel Pyridine- and Pyrimidine-Based Thioglycoside Phosphoramidates

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel morpholinopyrimidine-5-carbonitrile derivatives as dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors

In this study, novel morpholinopyrimidine-5-carbonitriles were designed and synthesized as dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors and apoptosis inducers. The integration of a heterocycle at position 2, with or without spacers, of the new key intermediate 2-hydrazinyl-6-morpholinopyrimidine-5-carbonitrile (5) yielded compounds 6-10, 11a-c and 12a-h. The National Cancer Institute (USA) tested all compounds for antiproliferative activity. Schiff bases, 12a-h analogs, were the most active ones. The most promising compounds 12b and 12d exhibited excellent antitumor activity against the leukemia SR cell line, which is the most sensitive cell line, with IC50 0.10 ± 0.01 and 0.09 ± 0.01 μM, respectively, along with significant effects on PI3Kα/PI3Kβ/PI3Kδ with IC50 values of 0.17 ± 0.01, 0.13 ± 0.01 and 0.76 ± 0.04 μM, respectively, for 12b and 1.27 ± 0.07, 3.20 ± 0.16 and 1.98 ± 0.11, respectively, for 12d compared to LY294002. Compared to Afinitor, these compounds inhibited mTOR with IC50 values of 0.83 ± 0.05 and 2.85 ± 0.17 μM, respectively. Annexin-V and propidium iodide (PI) double labeling showed that compounds 12b and 12d promote cytotoxic leukemia SR apoptosis. Compounds 12b and 12d also caused a G2/M cell cycle arrest in the leukaemia SR cell line. The findings of this study indicate that the highest effect was observed for 12b, which was supported by western blot and docking analysis.

Naphthyl cyanoketene N,S-acetals in glycoside synthesis: a new preparative route to a new class of N-naphthylcyanoacrylamide thioglycosides and their conversions to naphthyl-pyrazole hybrids

The novel N-naphthylcyanoacrylamide thioglycosides 4 were readily prepared by the reaction of N-napthylcyanoacetamide 1 with aryl isothiocyanates in the presence of potassium hydroxide, followed by coupling of the produced salts 2 with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-d-gluco- and galacto-pyranosyl bromides 3. The N-naphthyl acrylamide thioglycoside 12 was prepared by the reaction of N-napthylcyanoacetamide 1 with glucose isothiocyante 10 in the presence of potassium hydroxide, followed by alkylation of the produced salt 11 with methyl iodide. The reaction of thioglycoside compounds 4 with hydrazines afforded the corresponding naphthyl-pyrazole hybrids.

Recent Advances in Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Scaffolds as Antiviral Agents

This study aims to provide a thorough analysis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles, focusing on their therapeutic implications for the development of targeted and effective antiviral drugs. To better understand how nitrogen-containing heterocycles can be used to create antiviral drugs, this review adopts a systematic literature review strategy to compile and analyze pertinent research studies. It combines information from various fields to understand better the compounds' mode of action and their therapeutic potential. This review paper summarizes data from multiple sources to highlight the promising potential of heterocycles containing nitrogen as promising possibilities for future antiviral treatments. The capacity to engage selectively and modulate critical pathways bodes well for their use in developing new viral therapies. In conclusion, nitrogen-containing heterocycles are shown to be of utmost importance in the field of medicinal chemistry, as emphasized by the review paper. It emphasizes the central importance of chemical insights and pharmacological potential in developing novel and effective antiviral medicines by bringing them together.

Recent progress in the synthesis of natural product inspired bioactive glycohybrids

Carbohydrates are a basic structural component that are indispensable to all cellular processes. In addition to being employed as chiral starting materials in the synthesis of a variety of natural products, carbohydrates are recognized as naturally occurring molecules having an enormous variety of functional, stereochemical, and structural properties. The understanding and biological roles of carbohydrate derived molecules can be greatly improved by selectively synthesizing functional carbohydrates through incorporating them with privileged scaffolds. For a deeper understanding of their roles and the development of functional materials based on sugar, it is crucial to develop new techniques for efficiently synthesizing, functionalizing, and modifying carbohydrates. Glycohybrids have a wide range of structural and functional characteristics along with protein-carbohydrate interactions that are crucial to mammalian biology and a number of disease states. This review, consisting the literature from January 2017 to July 2023 and provide an overview of recent developments in the chemical synthesis of glycohybrids based on natural product scaffolds of coumarin, quinolone, naphthalene diimide, indole, isatin, naphthoquinone, imidazole and pyrimidine. The biological activity of active glycohybrids are discussed in this review.

New syntheses of thiosaccharides utilizing substitution reactions

Novel synthetic methods published since 2005 affording carbohydrates containing sulfur atom(s) are reviewed. The review is divided to subchapters based on the position of sulfur atom(s) in the sugar molecule. Only those methods that take advantage of substitution are discussed.

Fractional modeling of drug diffusion from cylindrical tablets based on Fickian and relaxed approaches with in vivo validation

Mathematical simulation of drug diffusion is a significant tool for predicting the bio-transport process. Moreover, the reported models in the literature are based on Fick's approach, which leads to an infinite propagation speed. Consequently, it is essential to construct a mathematical model to represent the diffusion processes for estimating drug concentrations at different sites and throughout the circulation. Thus, in this article, the diffusion process is employed to propose three models for estimating the drug release from multi-layer cylindrical tablets. A fractional model is presented based on Fick's approach, while classical and fractional Cattaneo models are presented using the relaxed principle. Various numerical methods are used to solve the specified problem. The numerical scheme's stability and convergence are demonstrated. Drug concentration and mass profiles are presented for the tablet and the external medium and compared with the in vivo plasma profiles. The results show the efficiency and precision of the proposed fractional models based on the fourth-order weighted-shifted Grünwald-Letnikov difference operator approximation. These models are compatible with the in vivo data compared with the classical Fick's one.

Structural, Hirshfeld surface and molecular docking studies of a new organotin(IV)-phosphoric triamide complex and an amidophosphoric acid ester proposed as possible SARS-CoV-2 and Monkeypox inhibitors

Phosphoramides and their complexes are attractive compounds due to their significant inhibiting functionality in biological medicine. In this paper, a novel organotin(IV)-phosphoramide complex (Sn(CH₃)₂Cl₂{[(3-Cl)C₆H₄NH]P(O)[NC₄H₈O]₂}₂, 1), derived from a reaction between phosphoric triamide ligand with dimethyltin dichloride, and a new amidophosphoric acid ester ([OCH₂C(CH₃)₂CH₂O]P(O)[N(CH₃)CH₂C₆H₅], 2), prepared from the condensation of a cyclic chlorophosphate reagent with N-methylbenzylamine, are structurally characterized and in silico investigated as potential SARS-CoV-2 and Monkeypox inhibitors by molecular docking simulation. Both compounds crystallize in the monoclinic crystal system with space group P2₁/c. The asymmetric unit of the complex 1 consists of one-half molecule, where Sn^IV is located on an inversion center, while the asymmetric part of 2 consists of one whole molecule. In the complex 1, the tin atom adopts a six-coordinate octahedral geometry with trans groups of (Cl)₂, (CH₃)₂ and (PO)₂ (PO = phosphoric triamide ligand). The molecular architecture consists of the N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds stretching as a 1D linear arrangement along the b axis with intermediate R22(12) ring motifs, whereas in the case of 2, the crystal packing is devoid of any classical hydrogen bond interaction. Furthermore, a graphical analysis by using Hirshfeld surface method identifies the most important intermolecular interactions being of the type H⋯Cl/Cl⋯H (for 1) and H⋯O/O⋯H (for 1 and 2), covering the hydrogen bond interactions N-H⋯Cl and C-H⋯O═P, respectively, which turn out to be favoured. A biological molecular docking simulation on the studied compounds provides evidence to suggest a significant inhibitory potential against SARS-COV-2 (6LU7) and Monkeypox (4QWO) especially for 6LU7 with a binding energy around -6 kcal/mol competing with current effective drugs against this virus (with a binding energy around -5 and -7 kcal/mol). It is worth noting that this report is the first case of an inhibitory potential evaluation of phosphoramide compounds on Monkeypox.

Sofosbuvir and its tri-phosphate metabolite inhibit the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of non-structural protein 5 from the Kyasanur forest disease virus

Kyasanur forest disease is a neglected zoonotic disease caused by a single-stranded RNA-based flavivirus, the incidence of which was first recorded in 1957 in the Southern part of India. Kyasanur forest disease virus is transmitted to monkeys and humans through the infected tick bite of Haemophysalis spinigera. Kyasanur forest disease is a febrile illness, which in severe cases, results in neurological complications leading to mortality. The current treatment regimens are symptomatic and supportive, and no targeted therapies are available for this disease. In this study, we evaluated the ability of FDA-approved drugs sofosbuvir (and its active metabolite) and Dasabuvir to inhibit the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of NS5 protein from the Kyasanur forest disease virus. NS5 protein containing the N-terminal methyl transferase domain and C-terminal RNA-dependent RNA polymerase domain was expressed in Escherichia coli, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity was demonstrated with the purified protein. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase assay conditions were optimized, followed by the determination of apparent K_m,ATP to validate the enzyme preparation. Half maximal-inhibitory concentrations against RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity were determined for Sofosbuvir and its active metabolite. Dasabuvir did not show detectable inhibition with the tested conditions. This is the first demonstration of the inhibition of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity of NS5 protein from the Kyasanur forest disease virus with small molecule inhibitors. These initial findings can potentially facilitate the discovery and development of targeted therapies for treating Kyasanur forest disease.

Novel Thiophene Thioglycosides Substituted with the Benzothiazole Moiety: Synthesis, Characterization, Antiviral and Anticancer Evaluations, and NS3/4A and USP7 Enzyme Inhibitions

Novel derivatives of benzothiazole-2-thiophene S-glycoside were synthesized and tested for their antiviral and anticancer potency and NS3/4A and USP7 enzyme inhibitions. The ring system was formed by first synthesizing new derivatives of 5-mercaptothiophene substituted with the benzothiazole moiety, followed by coupling with various halo sugar derivatives. New compounds were tested in vitro for the cytotoxic effect on five types of normal cell lines and for antiviral activity using a plaque reduction assay against CBV4, HSV-1, HCVcc genotype 4 viruses, HAV HM 175, and HAdV7. Notably, three compounds demonstrated substantial IC₅₀, CC₅₀, and SI values against HSV-1 with a viral reduction of 80% or more. Two substances have demonstrated a reduction of more than 50% in CBV4 and HCVcc viruses. The effectiveness of the compounds against HSV-1 and HCVcc was tested for their capability to inhibit NS3/4A protease and USP7 enzyme. Additionally, a panel of 60 human cancer cells was used to investigate the ability of the newly synthesized compounds to inhibit the in vitro tumor growth. The results revealed that two compounds, 6a and 6c, have an inhibitory effect on most cancer types, whereas 6d and 6f inhibited only three and two cell lines, respectively.

Synthesis of novel pyridine and pyrimidine thioglycoside phosphoramidates for the treatment of COVID-19 and influenza A viruses

A novel series of pyridine, cytosine, and uracil thioglycoside analogs (4a-i, 9a,b, and 13a,b, respectively) and their corresponding phosphoramidates (6a-I, 10a,b, and 14a,b, respectively) were synthesized and assessed for their antiviral inhibitory activities in a dual-pathogen screening protocol against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus (IAV). MTT cytotoxicity (TC50) and plaque reduction assays were used to explore inhibition and cytotoxicity percentage values for H5N1 influenza virus strain and the half-maximal cytotoxic concentration (CC₅₀) and inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) for SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most of the tested compounds demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition behavior. Both cytosine thioglycoside phosphoramidates 10a and 10b exhibited the most potent profiles with 83% and 86% inhibition at 0.25 µM concentration against H5N1 and IC₅₀ values of 12.16 µM, 14.9 µM against SARS-CoV-2, respectively. Moreover, compounds 10a and 10b have been shown to have the highest selectivity index (SI) among all the tested compounds against SARS-CoV-2 with 28.2 and 26.9 values, respectively.

Synthesis of Pyrimidine Conjugates with 4-(6-Amino-hexanoyl)-7,8-difluoro-3,4-dihydro-3-methyl-2H-[1,4]benzoxazine and Evaluation of Their Antiviral Activity

A series of pyrimidine conjugates containing a fragment of racemic 7,8-difluoro-3,4-dihydro-3-methyl-2H-[1,4]benzoxazine and its (S)-enantiomer attached via a 6-aminohexanoyl fragment were synthesized by the reaction of nucleophilic substitution of chlorine in various chloropyrimidines. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by ¹H, ¹⁹F, and ¹³C NMR spectral data. Enantiomeric purity of optically active derivatives was confirmed by chiral HPLC. Antiviral evaluation of the synthesized compounds has shown that the replacement of purine with a pyrimidine fragment leads to a decrease in the anti-herpesvirus activity compared to the lead compound, purine conjugate. The studied compounds did not exhibit significant activity against influenza A (H1N1) virus.

Synthesis of triarylphosphines from arylammonium salts via one-pot transition-metal-free C-P coupling

A nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S_NAr) reaction that allowed transition-metal-free C-P bond construction via C-N bond cleavage was developed. The coupling between aryltrimethylammonium salts and secondary phosphines from the in situ reduction of diarylphosphine oxides led to the formation of diverse triarylphosphines with various functional groups. This one-pot process was not only a pertinent S_NAr precedent but also a favorable transition-metal-free alternative for C-P coupling.

Isolation of Thioinosine and Butenolides from a Terrestrial Actinomycetes sp. GSCW-51 and Their in Silico Studies for Potential against SARS-CoV-2

In our continuous screening for bioactive microbial natural products, the culture extracts of a terrestrial Actinomycetes sp. GSCW‐51 yielded two new metabolites, i. e., 5‐hydroxymethyl‐3‐(1‐hydroxy‐6‐methyl‐7‐oxooctyl)dihydrofuran‐2(3H)‐one (1), 5‐hydroxymethyl‐3‐(1,7‐dihydroxy‐6‐methyloctyl)dihydrofuran‐2(3H)‐one (2), and two known compounds; 5′‐methylthioinosine (3), and 5′‐methylthioinosine sulfoxide (4), which are isolated first time from any natural source, along with four known compounds (5–8). The structures of the new compounds were deduced by HR‐ESI‐MS, 1D and 2D NMR data, and in comparison with related compounds from the literature. Additionally, owing to the current COVID‐19 pandemic situation, we also computationally explored the therapeutic potential of our isolated compounds against SARS‐CoV‐2. Compound 4 showed the best binding energies of −6.2 and −6.6 kcal/mol for M^pro and spike proteins, respectively. The intermolecular interactions were also studied using 2‐D and 3‐D imagery, which also supported the binding energies as well as put several insights under the spotlight. Furthermore, Lipinski's rule of 5 was used to predict the drug likeness of compounds 1–4, which indicated all compounds obey Lipinski's rule of 5. The study of bioavailability radars of the compounds 1–4 also confirmed their drug likeness properties where all the five crucial drug likeness parameters are in color area, which is safe to be used as drugs. Our isolation and computational findings highly encourage the scientific community to do further in vitro and in vivo studies of compounds 1–4.

Recent advances on heterocyclic compounds with antiviral properties

In recent years several important viral infections have emerged and antiviral chemotherapeutic agents are not sufficiently effective in clinic, leading to serious human diseases and mortality. Therefore, novel antiviral candidates are urgently desirable, which undoubtedly is essential for the therapy of various fatal and debilitating viral infections. Heterocyclic compounds are obtaining importance in the field of medicinal chemistry because of the broad spectrum of their physiological activities. Among N- and S-containing heterocycles, indole, imidazole, thiazole, pyridine, and quinaxoline derivatives are especially attractive. The present review highlights antiviral behavior of these heterocyclic compounds.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning could support drug development for hepatitis A virus internal ribosomal entry sites

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is still an important health issue worldwide. Although several effective HAV vaccines are available, it is difficult to perform universal vaccination in certain countries. Therefore, it may be better to develop antivirals against HAV for the prevention of severe hepatitis A. We found that several drugs potentially inhibit HAV internal ribosomal entry site-dependent translation and HAV replication. Artificial intelligence and machine learning could also support screening of anti-HAV drugs, using drug repositioning and drug rescue approaches.