Novel 3-substituted ocotillol-type triterpenoid derivatives as antibacterial candidates

Novel ocotillol-derived lactone derivatives: design, synthesis, bioactive evaluation, SARs and preliminary antibacterial mechanism

A new series of ocotillol-derived lactone derivatives were designed and synthesized to consider their antibacterial activity, structure-activity relationships (SARs), antibacterial mechanism and in vivo antibacterial efficacy. Compound 6d, which exhibited broad antibacterial spectrum, was found to be the most active with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1-2 μg/mL against Gram-positive bacteria and 8-16 μg/mL against Gram-negative bacteria. The subsequent synergistic antibacterial tests displayed that 6d had the ability to improve the susceptibility of MRSA USA300, B. subtilis 168, and E. coli DH5α to kanamycin and chloramphenicol. This active molecule 6d also induced bacterial resistance more slowly than norfloxacin and kanamycin. Furthermore, compound 6d was membrane active and low toxic against mammalian cells, and it could rapidly inhibit the growth of MRSA and E. coli and did not obviously trigger bacterial resistance. Compound 6d also displayed strong in vivo antibacterial activity against S. aureus RN4220 in murine corneal infection models. Additionally, absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion properties of this type of compounds have shown drug-likeness with good oral absorption and moderate blood-brain barrier permeability. The obtained results demonstrated that ocotillol-derived compounds are a promising class of antibacterial agents worthy of further study.

Isolation of ocotillol/ocotillone from Fouquieria splendens (Ocote) using a batch reactor

Exploitation of the "ocotillo" tree (Fouquieria splendens Engelm) to produce ocotillol/ocotillone (o/o) in Northern Mexico hasn't been explored to this date. In the present work, isolation of ocotillol/ocotillone was performed through a batch reactor, which allowed the elimination of alcohol and phenols present in the ocote plant, yielding only resins and waxes from the ocote trunks. The ocotillol/ocotillone was extracted from the remaining resin on the ocote logs by solvent extraction in a batch reactor, to be crystallized after its extraction using a rotary evaporator. FTIR, and NMR analysis exhibited the characteristic ginsenoside bands, while the UV-vis spectrum of ocotillol/ocotillone depicted an absorption band belonging to the O-H bonds, indicating that the group is anchored to the ginsenoside structure and not due to a water signal. Lastly, the thermogravimetric analysis described a common behavior among other ginsenosides. Production of ocotillo/ocotillone has an energy consumption of 3624 kWh/gr. With a cost of $0.478 USD in laboratory equipment, which translates as a plausible sustainable production of ocotillol/ocotillone.

Design, Synthesis, and Antibacterial Evaluation of Novel Ocotillol Derivatives and Their Synergistic Effects with Conventional Antibiotics

The improper use of antibiotics has led to the development of bacterial resistance, resulting in fewer antibiotics for many bacterial infections. Especially, the drug resistance of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) is distinctly serious. This research designed and synthesized two series of 3-substituted ocotillol derivatives in order to improve their anti-HA-MRSA potency and synergistic antibacterial activity. Among the synthesized compounds, 20–31 showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 1–64 µg/mL in vitro against HA-MRSA 18–19, 18–20, and S. aureus ATCC29213. Compound 21 showed the best antibacterial activity, with an MIC of 1 μg/mL and had synergistic inhibitory effects. The fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) value was 0.375, when combined with chloramphenicol (CHL) or kanamycin (KAN). The structure–activity relationships (SARs) of ocotillol-type derivatives were also summarized. Compound 21 has the potential to be developed as a novel antibacterial agent or potentiator against HA-MRSA.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of ocotillol derivatives with polycyclic nitrogen-containing groups

Aim: With the increasing abuse of antibacterial drugs, multidrug-resistant bacteria have become a burden on human health and the healthcare system. To find alternative compounds effective against hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA), novel derivatives of ocotillol were synthesized. Methods & Results: Ocotillol derivatives with polycyclic nitrogen-containing groups were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity. Compounds 36-39 exhibited potent antibacterial activity against HA-MRSA, with MIC = 8-64 μg/ml. Additionally, a combination of compound 37 and the commercially available antibiotic kanamycin showed synergistic inhibitory effects, with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of ≤0.375. Conclusion: Compound 37 has a strong inhibitory effect, and this derivative has potential for use as a pharmacological tool to explore antibacterial mechanisms.

Synthesis and Anti-Hepatocarcinoma Effect of Amino Acid Derivatives of Pyxinol and Ocotillol

Aiming at seeking an effective anti-hepatocarcinoma drug with low toxicity, a total of 24 amino acid derivatives (20 new along with 4 known derivatives) of two active ocotillol-type sapogenins (pyxinol and ocotillol) were synthesized. Both in vitro and in vivo anti-hepatocarcinoma effects of derivatives were evaluated. At first, the HepG2 human cancer cell was employed to evaluate the anti-cancer activity. Most of the derivatives showed obvious enhanced activity compared with pyxinol or ocotillol. Among them, compound 2e displayed the most excellent activity with an IC₅₀ value of 11.26 ± 0.43 µM. Next, H22 hepatoma-bearing mice were used to further evaluate the anti-liver cancer activity of compound 2e. It was revealed that the growth of H22 transplanted tumor was significantly inhibited when treated with compound 2e or compound 2e combined with cyclophosphamide (CTX) (p < 0.05, p < 0.01), and the inhibition rates of tumor growth were 35.32% and 55.30%, respectively. More importantly, compound 2e caused limited damage to liver and kidney in contrast with CTX causing significant toxicity. Finally, the latent mechanism of compound 2e was explored by serum and liver metabolomics based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) technology. A total of 21 potential metabolites involved in 8 pathways were identified. These results suggest that compound 2e is a promising agent for anti-hepato-carcinoma, and that it also could be used in combination with CTX to increase efficiency and to reduce toxicity.

Recent Advances in the Semisynthesis, Modifications and Biological Activities of Ocotillol-Type Triterpenoids

Ginseng is one of the most widely consumed herbs in the world and plays an important role in counteracting fatigue and alleviating stress. The main active substances of ginseng are its ginsenosides. Ocotillol-type triterpenoid is a remarkably effective ginsenoside from Vietnamese ginseng that has received attention because of its potential antibacterial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties, among others. The semisynthesis, modification and biological activities of ocotillol-type compounds have been extensively studied in recent years. The aim of this review is to summarize semisynthesis, modification and pharmacological activities of ocotillol-type compounds. The structure-activity relationship studies of these compounds were reported. This summary should prove useful information for drug exploration of ocotillol-type derivatives.

Antibacterial activity of the structurally novel ocotillol-type lactone and its analogues

A novel series of ocotillol-type lactone derivatives were designed and synthesized in order to study their antibacterial activity and structure-activity relationships. Among which, compounds 4j and 4 m were found to be the most active with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1-4 μg/mL against Gram-positive bacteria and showed low cytotoxicity against MCF-7, HEK-293 and HK-2 cells at their MICs. The antibacterial effect of compound 4 m was characterized further by scanning electron microscopy, cytoplasmic β-galactosidase leakage assay and UV-visible analysis. The results showed that 4 m may exert its antibacterial effect by damaging bacterial cell membranes and disrupting the function of DNA, both of which could lead to rapid cell death.

Design, Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of 3-Substituted Ocotillol-Type Derivatives

Antibiotic resistance has become a serious global problem that threatens public health. In our previous work, we found that ocotillol-type triterpenoid saponin showed good antibacterial activity. Based on preliminary structure-activity relationship, novel serious C-3 substituted ocotillol-type derivatives 7⁻26 were designed and synthesized. The in vitro antibacterial activity was tested on five bacterial strains (B. subtilis 168, S. aureus RN4220, E. coli DH5α, A. baum ATCC19606 and MRSA USA300) and compared with the tests on contrast. Among these derivatives, C-3 position free hydroxyl substituted compounds 7⁻14, showed good antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, compound 22 exhibited excellent antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values of 2 μg/mL against MRSA USA300 and 4 μg/mL against B. subtilis. The structure-activity relationships of all current ocotillol-type derivatives our team synthesised were summarized. In addition, the prediction of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties and the study of pharmacophores were also conducted. These results can provide a guide to further design and synthesis works.

Discovery, semisynthesis, biological activities, and metabolism of ocotillol-type saponins

Ocotillol-type saponins are one kind of tetracyclic triterpenoids, sharing a tetrahydrofuran ring. Natural ocotillol-type saponins have been discovered in Panax quinquefolius L., Panax japonicus, Hana mina, and Vietnamese ginseng. In recent years, the semisynthesis of 20(S/R)-ocotillol-type saponins has been reported. The biological activities of ocotillol-type saponins include neuroprotective effect, antimyocardial ischemia, antiinflammatory, antibacterial, and antitumor activities. Owing to their chemical structure, pharmacological actions, and the stereoselective activity on antimyocardial ischemia, ocotillol-type saponins are subjected to extensive consideration. In this review, we sum up the discovery, semisynthesis, biological activities, and metabolism of ocotillol-type saponins.

Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of Novel 3-Substituted Ocotillol-Type Derivatives as Leads

Due to the rapidly growing bacterial antibiotic-resistance and the scarcity of novel agents in development, bacterial infection is still a global problem. Therefore, new types of antibacterial agents, which are effective both alone and in combination with traditional antibiotics, are urgently needed. In this paper, a series of antibacterial ocotillol-type C-24 epimers modified from natural 20(S)-protopanaxadiol were synthesized and evaluated for their antibacterial activity. According to the screening results of Gram-positive bacteria (B. subtilis 168 and MRSA USA300) and Gram-negative bacteria (P. aer PAO1 and A. baum ATCC19606) in vitro, the derivatives exhibited good antibacterial activity, particularly against Gram-positive bacteria with an minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) value of 2–16 µg/mL. The subsequent synergistic antibacterial assay showed that derivatives 5c and 6c enhanced the susceptibility of B. subtilis 168 and MRSA USA300 to chloramphenicol (CHL) and kanamycin (KAN) (FICI < 0.5). Our data showed that ocotillol-type derivatives with long-chain amino acid substituents at C-3 were good leads against antibiotic-resistant pathogens MRSA USA300, which could improve the ability of KAN and CHL to exhibit antibacterial activity at much lower concentrations with reduced toxicity.