Antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic evaluation of diazenyl chalcones along with insights to mechanism of interaction by molecular docking studies

Peripheral (E)-2-[(4-hydroxybenzylidene)-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one)]-coordinated phthalocyanines with improved enzyme inhibition properties and photophysicochemical behaviors

In this study, (E)-4-{4-[(1-oxo-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-2(1H)-ylidene)methyl]phenoxy}phthalonitrile (4) and its phthalocyanine derivatives (5-8) were synthesized for the first time. Aggregation behaviors of the novel soluble phthalocyanines in organic solvents were investigated. In addition, the efficiency of 1O2 production of (5) and ZnPc (6) was investigated. The singlet oxygen quantum yields (ΦΔ) for 2HPc (5) and ZnPc (6) were found to be 0.58 and 0.83, respectively. Additionally, novel phthalocyanines (5-8) were investigated for their ability to inhibit enzymes. They exhibited a highly potent inhibition effect on human carbonic anhydrase I and II (hCA I and II) and α-glycosidase (α-Gly) enzymes. Ki values are in the range of 2.60 ± 9.87 to 11.53 ± 6.92 µM, 3.35 ± 0.53 to 15.47 ± 1.20 µM, and 28.60 ± 4.82 to 40.58 ± 7.37 nM, respectively. The calculations of the studied molecule at the B3LYP, HF, and M062X levels in the 6-31G basis sets were made using the Gaussian package program. Afterward, the interactions occurring in the docking calculation against a protein that is the crystal structure of hCA I (PDB ID: 2CAB), the crystal structure of hCA II (PDB ID: 5AML), and the crystal structure of α-Gly (PDB ID: 1R47), were examined. Following that, Protein-Ligand Interaction Profiler (PLIP) analysis was used to look at the interactions that occurred during the docking calculation in further detail.

Management of selected waste generated during cable production

The subject of the research was the recovery of raw materials from waste generated in the production of cable insulation and the management of aluminum sludge. It was found that 49% (w/w) acetophenone, 6.8% (w/w) α-methylstyrene, and 17.2% (w/w) cumyl alcohol can be recovered from waste with a loss on ignition of 95% and used in various industries. A gas chromatograph equipped with a mass spectrometry detector was used to identify the recovered compounds. A waste distillation process was proposed to remove the water layer and obtain a concentrated acetophenone fraction. A method of neutralizing the water fraction and distillation residues is presented. The proposed waste management method is an alternative method to the currently used thermal transformation method. In turn, aluminum sludge was used to produce aluminum sulfate, which was used in the plant's sewage treatment plant as a coagulant. The effect of this action was a reduction of 67% in the content of total iron, 60% of trivalent iron, and 32% of chemical oxygen demand. The above-mentioned examples of waste management are part of a closed-loop waste management strategy.

Trypanocidal potential of synthetic p-aminochalcones: In silico and in vitro evaluation

Chagas disease (CD) is a neglected tropical disease of worldwide health concern, caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), endemic in Latin America and present in North America and Europe. The WHO recommended drug for CD, benznidazole has low safety profile and several limitations. Therefore, an entity with better therapeutic potential to treat CD is required. Chalcones are an important class of compounds, which have shown antichagasic potential. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the activity of synthetic p-aminochalcones against T. cruzi. Chalcones 1 and 2 were synthesized by Claisen-Schmidt condensation and characterized by both spectroscopic and theoretical methods. Initially, they were submitted to molecular docking simulations using cruzain and trypanothione reductase (TR) enzymes. It was expected to observe the possible interactions of chalcones with the catalytic site and other important regions of these main pharmacological targets of T. cruzi. Their cytotoxicity within host cells were assessed by MTT reduction assay using LLC-MK2 cells, with CC50 = 85.6 ± 9.2 µM and 1115 ± 381.7 µM for chalcones 1 and 2, respectively. These molecules were also tested against epimastigote and trypomastigote life forms of T. cruzi, causing reduction in the number of viable parasites. For the evaluation of the effect on intracellular amastigotes, infected LLC-MK2 cells were incubated with the chalcones for 24 h, causing reduction in the percentage of infected cells and the number of amastigotes/100 cells. Finally, flow cytometry assays were performed for analyzing cell death mechanisms (7-AAD/AxPE labelling), cytoplasmic ROS accumulation (DCFH-DA assay) and mitochondrial transmembrane potential disruption (Rho123 assay). Both chalcones (1 and 2) caused membrane damage, ROS accumulation and mitochondrial depolarization. In conclusion, the synthetic p-aminochalcones presented trypanocidal effect, causing membrane damage and oxidative stress. Their mechanism of action may be related to cruzain and TR inhibition.

Curcumin Chalcone Derivatives Database (CCDD): a Python framework for natural compound derivatives database

We built the Curcumin Chalcone Derivatives Database (CCDD) to enable the effective virtual screening of highly potent curcumin and its analogs. The two-dimensional (2D) structures were drawn using the ChemBioOffice package and converted to 3D structures using Discovery Studio Visualizer V 2021 (DS). The database was built using different Python modules. For the 3D structures, different Python packages were used to obtain the data frame of compounds. This framework is also used to visualize the compounds. The webserver enables the users to screen the compounds according to Lipinski's rule of five. The structures can be downloaded in .sdf and .mol format. The data frame (df) can be downloaded in .csv format. Our webserver can help computational drug discovery researchers find new therapeutics and build new webservers. The CCDD is freely available at: https://srampogu-ccdd-ccdd-8uldk8.streamlit.app/.

The Medicinal Chemistry of Chalcones as Anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis Agents

Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB), a highly fatal infectious disease, is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that has inflicted mankind for several centuries. In 2019, the staggering number of new cases reached 10 million resulting in 1.2 million deaths. The emergence of multidrug-resistance-Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant-Mycobacterium tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a global concern that requires the search for novel, effective, and safer short-term therapies. Nowadays, among the few alternatives available to treat resistant-Mtb strains, the majority have limitations, which include drug-drug interactions, long-term treatment, and chronic induced toxicities. Therefore, it is mandatory to develop new anti-Mtb agents to achieve health policy goals to mitigate the disease by 2035. Among the several bioactive anti-Mtb compounds, chalcones have been described as the privileged scaffold useful for drug design. Overall, this review explores and analyzes 37 chalcones that exhibited anti-Mtb activity described in the literature up to April 2021 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) values inferior to 20 µM and selective index superior to 10. In addition, the correlation of some properties for most active compounds was evaluated, and the main targets for these compounds were discussed.