An efficient approach for the synthesis of 1,2-dihydroxanthones enabled by one-pot Claisen condensation/cyclization reactions

Caged xanthone derivatives to promote mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells

Caged xanthones represent a class of natural secondary metabolites exhibiting significant potential as antitumor agents. These compounds are characterized by their distinct cage-like structures, which offer novel and compelling frameworks for drug design. Nonetheless, there exists a dearth of research focused on the structural modification of these compounds, particularly in relation to their cage-like architectures. This study aims to address this gap by introducing an innovative synthetic method for constructing a novel caged structure that incorporates a widely employed maleimide group. Drawing upon the well-established synthetic approach for dihydroxanthones previously developed within our research group, we successfully synthesized 13 new caged xanthones using the Diels-Alder reaction. Subsequently, we evaluated their anti-proliferative activity against HepG2, A549, and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. The results revealed that compound 10i exhibited IC50 values of 15.86 µM ± 1.29, 19.27 µM ± 1.58, and 12.96 µM ± 0.09 against these cell lines, respectively. Further investigations into the mechanism of action of 10i demonstrated its ability to induce G2/M cell cycle arrest and initiate mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

Interfacial engineering of vacancy-rich nitrogen-doped FexOy@MoS2 Co-catalytic carbonaceous beads mediated non-radicals for fast catalytic oxidation

How to accelerate the Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ conversion and fabricate recyclable iron-based catalysts with high reactivity and stability is highly desired yet challenging. Herein, vacancy-rich N@Fe_xO_y@MoS₂ carbonaceous beads were firstly developed via employing sodium alginate, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), and Fe-ZIFs through sol-gel self-assembly, followed by in-situ growth and pyrolysis strategies. As expected, A series of characterizations reflected that N@Fe_xO_y@MoS₂ had high dispersibility and conductivity for fast mass and electron transport, and MoS₂ as co-catalyst accelerated the circulation of Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺ that attained 99.4% (0.345 min^-1) norfloxacin degradation via PMS activation in a synergistic ''adsorption-driven-oxidation'' process, which much outperformed those of pure MoS₂ (32.4%) and N@Fe_xO_y powder catalyst (45.3%). Moreover, confined Fe species, graphitic N, pyrrolic N, pyridinic N, and sulfur/oxygen vacancies were found as highly exposed active sites that contributed to the activation of PMS to dominate non-radicals (¹O₂ and O₂·^-) and other radicals following a contribution order ¹O₂ > O₂·^- > SO₄·^- > ^·OH. More importantly^, a fluidized-bed catalytic unit was evaluated and maintained the continuous zero discharge of NX. Overall, this study offered a generally applicable approach to fabricate removable Fe-based catalysts for contaminants remediation.