Inhibition of in vitro Ebola infection by anti-parasitic quinoline derivatives

There continues to be no approved drugs for the treatment of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Despite a number of candidate drugs showing limited efficacy in vitro and/or in non-human primate studies, EVD continues to plaque certain areas of Africa without any efficacious treatments yet available. Recently, we have been exploring the potential for anti-malarial drugs to inhibit an in vitro model of Ebola Zaire replication using a transcription-competent virus-like particle (trVLP) assay. We examined the efficacy of chloroquine, amodiaquine and 36 novel anti-parasite quinoline derivatives at inhibiting Ebola virus replication. Drug efficacy was tested by trVLP assay and toxicity by MTT assay. Both chloroquine and amodiaquine were effective for inhibition of Ebola virus replication without significant toxicity. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC ₅₀) of chloroquine and amodiaquine to inhibit Ebola virus replication were IC _{50, Chl} = 3.95 µM and IC _{50, Amo} = 1.45 µM, respectively. Additionally, three novel quinoline derivatives were identified as having inhibitory activity and low toxicity for Ebola trVLP replication, with 2NH2Q being the most promising derivative, with an IC ₅₀ of 4.66 µM. Quinoline compounds offer many advantages for disease treatment in tropical climates as they are cheap to produce, easy to synthesize and chemically stable. In this report, we have demonstrated the potential of anti-parasite quinolines for further investigation for use in EVD.

Porphyrins as Catalysts in Scalable Organic Reactions

Catalysis is a topic of continuous interest since it was discovered in chemistry centuries ago. Aiming at the advance of reactions for efficient processes, a number of approaches have been developed over the last 180 years, and more recently, porphyrins occupy an important role in this field. Porphyrins and metalloporphyrins are fascinating compounds which are involved in a number of synthetic transformations of great interest for industry and academy. The aim of this review is to cover the most recent progress in reactions catalysed by porphyrins in scalable procedures, thus presenting the state of the art in reactions of epoxidation, sulfoxidation, oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds and C–H functionalization. In addition, the use of porphyrins as photocatalysts in continuous flow processes is covered.

Looking back through the MIST: a perspective of evolving strategies and key focus areas for metabolite safety analysis

The publication of the US FDA MIST guidance document in 2008 reignited the debate around the most appropriate strategies to underwrite metabolite safety for novel compounds. Whilst some organizations have suggested that the guidelines necessitate a paradigm shift to more thorough metabolite analysis during early development, an evaluation of historical practices shows that the principles of the guidelines have always largely underpinned metabolism studies within the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, it is argued that existing practices, when coupled to appropriate emerging analytical tools and a case-by-case consideration of the relevance of the generated metabolism data in terms of structure, physicochemisty, abundance and activity, represent a fit-for-purpose approach to metabolite-safety assessments.

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of fluorinated analogues of Goniothalamus lactones. Impact of fluorine on oxidative processes

Novel fluorinated analogues of goniothalamin 1 and howiinol A 2 have been prepared from trifluorocrotonate derivatives. Trifluoromethyl goniothalamin (R/S) 4 showed a slightly lower activity than 1, while the trifluoromethyl howiinol A 16 exhibited similar activities on several cell lines in the micromolar range. Unlike (R) goniothalamin and howiinol A, trifluoromethyl parent compounds remained unchanged when submitted to biomimetic oxidative systems.