Natural Product Neopeltolide as a Cytochrome bc1 Complex Inhibitor: Mechanism of Action and Structural Modification

The marine natural product neopeltolide was isolated from a deep-water sponge specimen of the family Neopeltidae. Neopeltolide has been proven to be a new type of inhibitor of the cytochrome bc₁ complex in the mitochondrial respiration chain. However, its detailed inhibition mechanism has remained unknown. In addition, neopeltolide is difficult to synthesize because of its very complex chemical structure. In the present work, the binding mode of neopeltolide was determined for the first time by integrating molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area calculations, which showed that neopeltolide is a Q_o site inhibitor of the bc₁ complex. Then, according to guidance via inhibitor-protein interaction analysis, structural modification was carried out with the aim to simplify the chemical structure of neopeltolide, leading to the synthesis of a series of new neopeltolide derivatives with much simpler chemical structures. The calculated binding energies (Δ G_cal) of the newly synthesized analogues correlated very well ( R² = 0.90) with their experimental binding free energies (Δ G_exp), which confirmed that the computational protocol was reliable. Compound 45, bearing a diphenyl ether fragment, was successfully designed and synthesized as the most potent candidate (IC₅₀ = 12 nM) against porcine succinate cytochrome c reductase. The molecular modeling results indicate that compound 45 formed a π-π interaction with Phe274 and two hydrogen bonds with Glu271 and His161. The present work provides a new starting point for future fungicide discovery to overcome the resistance that the existing bc₁ complex inhibitors are facing.

Salinomycin Hydroxamic Acids: Synthesis, Structure, and Biological Activity of Polyether Ionophore Hybrids

The polyether ionophore salinomycin has recently gained attention due to its exceptional ability to selectively reduce the proportion of cancer stem cells within a number of cancer cell lines. Efficient single step strategies for the preparation of hydroxamic acid hybrids of this compound varying in N- and O-alkylation are presented. The parent hydroxamic acid, salinomycin-NHOH, forms both inclusion complexes and well-defined electroneutral complexes with potassium and sodium cations via 1,3-coordination by the hydroxamic acid moiety to the metal ion. A crystal structure of an cationic sodium complex with a noncoordinating anion corroborates this finding and, moreover, reveals a novel type of hydrogen bond network that stabilizes the head-to-tail conformation that encapsulates the cation analogously to the native structure. The hydroxamic acid derivatives display down to single digit micromolar activity against cancer cells but unlike salinomycin selective reduction of ALDH(+) cells, a phenotype associated with cancer stem cells was not observed. Mechanistic implications are discussed.

Total Synthesis and Complete Stereostructure of a Marine Macrolide Glycoside, (-)-Lyngbyaloside B

We have described in detail the total synthesis of both the proposed and correct structures of (-)-lyngbyaloside B, which facilitated the elucidation of the complete stereostructure of this natural product. Our study began with the total synthesis of 13-demethyllyngbyaloside B, in which an esterification/ring-closing metathesis (RCM) strategy was successfully used for the efficient construction of the macrocycle. We also established reliable methods for the introduction of the conjugated diene side chain and the l-rhamnose residue onto the macrocyclic framework. However, the esterification/RCM strategy proved ineffective for the parent natural product because of the difficulties in acylating the sterically encumbered C-13 tertiary alcohol; macrolactionization of a seco-acid was also extensively investigated under various conditions without success. We finally completed the total synthesis of the proposed structure of (-)-lyngbyaloside B by means of a macrolactonization that involves an acyl ketene as the reactive species. However, the NMR spectroscopic data of our synthetic material did not match those of the authentic material, which indicated that the proposed structure must be re-examined. Inspection of the NMR spectroscopic data of the natural product and molecular mechanics calculations led us to postulate that the configuration of the C-10, C-11, and C-13 stereogenic centers had been incorrectly assigned in the proposed structure. Finally, our revised structure of (-)-lyngbyaloside B was unambiguously verified through total synthesis.