Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of 4-Alkyliden-beta Lactams: New Products with Promising Antibiotic Activity Against Resistant Bacteria

From Alkynes to Heterocycles through Metal-Promoted Silylformylation and Silylcarbocyclization Reactions

Oxygen and nitrogen heterocyclic systems are present in a large number of natural and synthetic compounds. In particular, oxa- and aza-silacyclane, tetrahydrofuran, benzofuran, cycloheptadifuranone, cycloheptadipyrrolone, pyrrolidine, lactone, lactam, phthalan, isochromanone, tetrahydroisoquinolinone, benzoindolizidinone, indoline and indolizidine scaffolds are present in many classes of biologically active molecules. Most of these contain a C=O moiety which can be easily introduced using carbonylative reaction conditions. In this field, intramolecular silylformylation and silylcarbocyclization reactions may afford heterocyclic compounds containing a carbonyl functional group together with a vinylsilane moiety which can be further transformed. Considering these two aspects, in this review a detailed analysis of the literature data regarding the application of silylformylation and silylcarbocyclization reactions to the synthesis of several heterocyclic derivatives is reported.

Antibacterial and antioxidant activities for natural and synthetic dual-active compounds

Antimicrobial resistance is widely recognized as a grave threat to global health in the 21st century, since the past decades have seen a dramatic increase in human-pathogenic bacteria that are resistant to one or multiple antibiotics. New antimicrobial agents are urgently required, particularly in the treatment of chronic infections such as cystic fibrosis, often associated with persistent colonization by drug-resistant pathogens and epithelial damage by pulmonary oxidative stress. In such events, it would be favourable to find agents that could have antioxidant and antibacterial activities combined in one molecule. The discovery of compounds that can show a dual-target activity considerably increased in the last years, reflecting the growing confidence that this new approach could lead to better therapeutic solutions for complex multigenic diseases. The aim of this review is to report those natural and synthetic compounds displaying significant antioxidant and antibacterial activities. In recent years there has been a growing attention on plant-derived antimicrobials as an alternative to antibiotics, for their efficacy and low tendency in developing bacterial resistance. Moreover, it was found that some natural products could enhance the activity of common antibiotics displaying a synergistic effect. We then report some selected synthetic compounds with an in-built capacity to act on two targets or with the combination in a single structure of two pharmacophores with antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Recent literature instances were screened and the most promising examples of dual-active antibacterial-antioxidant molecules were highlighted.

New β-Lactam Derivatives Modulate Cell Adhesion and Signaling Mediated by RGD-Binding and Leukocyte Integrins

A novel series of β-lactam derivatives that was designed and synthesized to target RGD-binding and leukocyte integrins is reported. The compound library was evaluated by investigating the effects on integrin-mediated cell adhesion and cell signaling in cell lines expressing α_vβ₃, α_vβ₅, α_vβ₆, α₅β₁, α_IIbβ₃, α₄β₁, and α_Lβ₂ integrins. SAR analysis of the new series of azetidinones enabled the recognition of structural elements associated with integrin selectivity. We obtained selective and potent agonists that could induce cell adhesion and promote cell signaling mediated by α_vβ₃, α_vβ₅, α₅β₁, or α₄β₁ integrin, and antagonists for the integrins α_vβ₃ and α₅β_1, as well as α₄β₁ and α_Lβ₂, preventing the effects elicited by the respective endogenous agonists.

Diversity-oriented synthesis and activity evaluation of substituted bicyclic lactams as anti-malarial against Plasmodium falciparum

Background

Malaria remains the world’s most important devastating parasitic disease. Of the five species of Plasmodium known to infect and cause human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum is the most virulent and responsible for majority of the deaths caused by this disease. Mainstream drug therapy targets the asexual blood stage of the malaria parasite, as the disease symptoms are mainly associated with this stage. The prevalence of malaria parasite strains resistance to existing anti-malarial drugs has made the control of malaria even more challenging and hence the development of a new class of drugs is inevitable.

Methods

Screening against different drug resistant and sensitive strains of P. falciparum was performed for few bicyclic lactam-based motifs, exhibiting a broad spectrum of activity with low toxicity generated via a focussed library obtained from diversity oriented synthesis (DOS). The synthesis and screening was followed by an in vitro assessment of the possible cytotoxic effect of this class of compounds on malaria parasite.

Results

The central scaffold a chiral bicyclic lactam (A) and (A’) which were synthesized from (R)-phenylalaninol, levulinic acid and 3-(2-nitrophenyl) levulinic acid respectively. The DOS library was generated from A and from A’, by either direct substitution with o-nitrobenzylbromide at the carbon α- to the amide functionality or by conversion to fused pyrroloquinolines. Upon screening this diverse library for their anti-malarial activity, a dinitro/diamine substituted bicyclic lactam was found to demonstrate exceptional activity of >85% inhibition at 50 μM concentration across different strains of P. falciparum with no toxicity against mammalian cells. Also, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial functionality and apoptosis was observed in parasite treated with diamine-substituted bicyclic lactams.

Conclusions

This study unveils a DOS-mediated exploration of small molecules with novel structural motifs that culminates in identifying a potential lead molecule against malaria. In vitro investigations further reveal their cytocidal effect on malaria parasite growth. It is not the first time that DOS has been used as a strategy to identify therapeutic leads against malaria, but this study establishes the direct implications of DOS in scouting novel motifs with anti-malarial activity.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1475-2875-13-467) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The chemistry and biological potential of azetidin-2-ones

Azetidin-2-ones, commonly referred as β-lactams, represent a unique ring system, with interesting chemistry and great biological potential. Besides its well known antibiotic activity, this ring system exhibits a wide range of activities, attracting the attention of researchers. The biological and pharmacological profile of azetidin-2-ones is reviewed here comprehensively with several examples under fourteen different activity heads. The chemistry and methods of synthesis have also been discussed.

Persistence and degradation of new β-lactam antibiotics in the soil and water environment

The development of new antibiotics with low environmental persistence is of utmost importance in contrasting phenomena of antibiotic resistance. In this study, the persistence of two newly synthesized monocyclic β-lactam antibiotics: (2R)-1-(methylthio)-4-oxoazetidin-2-yl acetate, P1, and (2R,3R)-3-((1R)-1-(tert-butyldimethylsilanyloxy)ethyl)-1-(methylthio)-4-oxoazetidin-2-yl acetate, P2, has been investigated in water in the pH range 3-9 and in two (calcareous and forest) soils, then compared to amoxicillin, a β-lactam antibiotic used in human and veterinary medicine. P1 and P2 persistence in water was lower than that of amoxicillin with only a few exceptions. P1 hydrolysis was catalyzed at an acidic pH whereas P2 hydrolysis takes place at both acidic and alkaline pH values. P1 persistence in soils depended mainly on their water potential (t1/2: 35.0-70.7d at wilting point; <1d at field capacity) whereas for P2 it was shorter and unaffected by soil water content (t1/2 0.13-2.5d). Several degradation products were detected in soils at both water potentials, deriving partly from hydrolytic pathways and partly from microbial transformation. The higher LogKow value for P2 compared with P1 seemingly confers P2 with high permeability to microbial membranes regardless of soil water content. P1 and P2 persistence in soils at wilting point was shorter than that of amoxicillin, whereas it had the same extent at field capacity.

2-Azetidinone--a new profile of various pharmacological activities

2-azetidinone, a β-lactam four member heterocyclic compound involved in research aimed to evaluate new products that possess interesting biological activities. These compounds reported for their antimicrobial and antifungal activities. Successful introduction of aztreonam as a potent inhibitor of cephalosporinase and ezetimibe as a cholesterol absorption inhibitor proved potential of 2-azetidinone moiety. Subsequently 2-azetidinones were highlighted as a potent mechanism based inhibitor of several enzymes like human tryptase, chymase, thrombin, leukocyte elastase, human cytomegalovirus protease and serine protease enzyme. These derivatives also known to possess antitubercular, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anti-HIV, antiparkinsonian, antidiabetic and vasopressin V1a antagonist activity. The present review article focuses on the pharmacological profile of 2-azetidinones with their potential activities.

Synthesis of novel beta-lactam fused spiroisoxazolidine chromanones and tetralones as potent antimicrobial agent for human and plant pathogens

Synthesis of novel beta-lactam fused spiroisoxazolidine chromanones and tetralones ring systems has been achieved by intermolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of bicyclic nitrone with unusual dipolarophiles, arylidene chromanones/tetralones under different reaction conditions. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for antimicrobial activities. It was observed that two of the synthesized compounds exhibited relatively good antibacterial and antifungal activities.

Azetidinones as zinc-binding groups to design selective HDAC8 inhibitors

2-Azetidinones, commonly known as beta-lactams, are well-known heterocyclic compounds. Herein we described the synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of novel beta-lactams. In vitro inhibition assays against HDAC isoforms showed an interesting isoform-selectivity of these compounds towards HDAC6 and HDAC8. The isoform selectivity changed in response to modification of the azetidinone-ring nitrogen atom substituent. The presence of an N-thiomethyl group is a prerequisite for the activity of these compounds in the micromolar range towards HDAC8.

Synthesis of some new mono- and bis-polycyclic aromatic spiro and bis-nonspiro-beta-lactams

Some new mono-and bis-polycyclic aromatic spiro-beta-lactams and bis-non spiro-polycyclic aromatic beta-lactams have been synthesized from imines derived from anthracene-9-carbaldehyde, 2-naphtaldehyde and a ketene derived from 9H-xanthene-9-carboxylic acid and phenoxyacetic acid by a [2+2] cycloaddition reaction. The cycloadducts were characterized by spectral data, including 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, IR and elemental analyses. The configurations of some of these mono-spiro-beta-lactams were established by X-ray crystal analysis.

Ugi products containing boronate esters

The Ugi reaction with formylphenylboronic acid derivatives as the carbonyl component proceeds to give the corresponding boron-containing dipeptide derivatives (Ugi products) in good yields.

Preference of beta-lactam formation in Cu(I)-catalyzed intramolecular coupling of amides with vinyl bromides

A general and highly efficient synthesis of 4-alkylidene-2-azetidinones was achieved by the Cu(I)-catalyzed intramolecular C-N coupling of amides with vinyl bromides. This 4-exo ring closure was found to be fundamentally preferred over other modes (5-exo, 6-exo, and 6-endo) of cyclization under copper catalysis. Tandem C-N bond formation was then successfully developed to allow the convenient generation of medium-sized lactams.

Synthesis and antimicrobial activity of beta-lactam-bile acid conjugates linked via triazole

Synthesis of novel 1,2,3-triazole-linked beta-lactam-bile acid conjugates 17-24 using 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of azido beta-lactam and terminal alkyne of bile acids in the presence of Cu(I) catalyst (click chemistry) have been realized. These molecules were evaluated in vitro for their antifungal and antibacterial activities. Most of the compounds exhibited significant antifungal and moderate antibacterial activity against all the tested strains.