Identification of Maleimide-Fused Carbazoles as Novel Noncanonical Bone Morphogenetic Protein Synergizers

Morphogenic signaling pathways govern embryonic development and tissue homeostasis on the cellular level. Precise control of such signaling events paves the way for innovative therapeutic approaches in the field of regenerative medicine. In line with these notions, bone morphogenic protein (BMP) is a major osteogenic driver and pharmacological stimulation of BMP signaling holds supreme potential for diseases and defects of the skeleton. Efforts to identify small-molecule modalities that activate or potentiate the BMP pathway have primarily been focused on the canonical signaling cascade. Here, we describe the phenotypic identification and development of specific carbazolomaleimides 2 as novel noncanonical BMP synergizers with submicromolar osteogenic cellular potency. The devised chemical tools are characterized to specifically regulate Id gene expression in a SMAD-independent, yet highly BMP-dependent fashion. Mechanistic studies revealed that GSK3 inhibition and increased β-catenin levels are partly responsible for this activity. The utility of the new BMP synergizer profile was further exemplified by showing how the synergistic action of canonical and noncanonical BMP enhancers additively amplifies BMP-dependent osteogenic outputs. Carbazolomaleimide 2b serves as a new and unique pharmacological tool for the modulation and study of the BMP pathway.

Fluorescence from bisaryl-substituted maleimide derivatives

A series of bisaryl-substituted fluorescent maleimides was synthesized via the Heck arylation.

Theoretical studies on the structural and spectroscopic properties of an iminocoumarin-based probe and its metal complexation: an implication for a fluorescence probe

To understand the sensing behaviors of molecular fluorescent probes, an N,N-di(picolyl)aminoethyl-iminocoumarin probe (L) and its complexation with metal(II) ions (ML, M = Mg, Ca, Zn, Cd and Hg) were examined by relativistic density functional theory (DFT). Four stable conformational isomers (labeled as g1, g2, a1 and a2) for each of them have been optimized, except for CaL having only three without the g2 isomer. All of these structures have been confirmed by frequency calculations. In the aqueous solution, the a2 isomer of the L probe was calculated to be the most stable, while the g1 isomer turns out to be energetically favorable upon binding with metal ions. At these isomeric geometries, the experimentally obtained absorption was well reproduced by calculations of time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) and a conductor-like polarized continuum model (CPCM). A slight red-shifting from L (508 nm) to ML (516-528 nm) was found. This is due to the metal affinity that stabilizes the LUMOs of ML greater than the HOMOs. Singlet excited-state structures of L and ML (M = Zn, Cd and Hg) were fully optimized using the TD-DFT approach, giving more relaxed geometries than their respective ground-state ones. Their fluorescent emissions in the aqueous solution were calculated to be 543 and 551-560 nm, respectively, agreeing with experimental values of 543 nm for L and 558 nm for ZnL. The present study also presents theoretical support for a sensing mechanism of photo-induced charge transfer of the L probe that was proposed in the previous experiment.

THEORETICAL STUDY OF PHOTO-PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN 2-ARYL SUBSTITUTED INDOLES

Ab initio method is used to figure out the structures and photo-physical processes of 2-aryl substituted indoles, 2-phenylindole (2PI), 2-naphthylindole (2NI), and 2-anthracenylindole (2AI), synthesized experimentally with strong fluorescence. The results show that the photoabsorption and fluorescence measured experimentally correspond to the monovalent anions deprotonated in the indole NH end, other than the neutral compounds. During the photochemical reaction, the angles between the planes of the indole and 2-aryl substituted moieties keep unchanged, but the photo-induced intramolecular charge transfer can immediately occur in the anions. Furthermore, the photo-physical processes after photoexcitation are analyzed by using a linear reaction coordinate.

Computational Photochemistry and Photophysics: the state of the art

This review starts with the most basic concepts in photochemistry and photophysics, followed by a chronological introduction of theoretical methods and relevant applications in the history of computational photochemistry, along with the authors’ comments on the methodologies currently available for photochemical studies. Recent advances in the field are next summarized and discussed, focusing separately on methodology and computational techniques and some highlighted applied works carried out during the last two years on the topics of photodissociations, photostability, photodimerizations, photoisomerizations, proton/hydrogen transfer, photodecarboxylations, charge transport, bioexcimers, chemiluminescence and bioluminescence. We finish this review by conclusions and an outlook of the future.