Design, Synthesis and Antifungal Activity of Psoralen Derivatives

Development of certain benzylidene coumarin derivatives as anti-prostate cancer agents targeting EGFR and PI3Kβ kinases

Novel coumarin derivatives were synthesised and tested for their cytotoxicity against human cancer cells (PC-3 and MDA-MB-231). Compounds 5, 4b, and 4a possessed potent cytotoxic activity against PC-3 cells with IC50 3.56, 8.99, and 10.22 µM, respectively. Compound 4c displayed cytotoxicity more than erlotinib in the MDA-MB-231 cells with IC50 8.5 µM. Moreover, compound 5 exhibited potent inhibitory activity on EFGR with IC50 0.1812 µM, as well as PI3Kβ inhibitory activity that was twofold higher than LY294002, suggesting that this compound has a dual EGFR and PI3Kβ inhibiting activity. Docking aligns with the in vitro results and sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying dual targeting. Furthermore, compound 5 decreased AKT and m-TOR expression in PC-3 cells, showing that it specifically targets these cells via the EGFR/PI3K/Akt/m-TOR signalling pathway. Simultaneously, compound 5 caused cell cycle arrest at S phase and induced activation of both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways.

Plant-Derived Antimicrobials and Their Crucial Role in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance

Antibiotic resistance emerged shortly after the discovery of the first antibiotic and has remained a critical public health issue ever since. Managing antibiotic resistance in clinical settings continues to be challenging, particularly with the rise of superbugs, or bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics, known as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. This rapid development of resistance has compelled researchers to continuously seek new antimicrobial agents to curb resistance, despite a shrinking pipeline of new drugs. Recently, the focus of antimicrobial discovery has shifted to plants, fungi, lichens, endophytes, and various marine sources, such as seaweeds, corals, and other microorganisms, due to their promising properties. For this review, an extensive search was conducted across multiple scientific databases, including PubMed, Elsevier, ResearchGate, Scopus, and Google Scholar, encompassing publications from 1929 to 2024. This review provides a concise overview of the mechanisms employed by bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance, followed by an in-depth exploration of plant secondary metabolites as a potential solution to MDR pathogens. In recent years, the interest in plant-based medicines has surged, driven by their advantageous properties. However, additional research is essential to fully understand the mechanisms of action and verify the safety of antimicrobial phytochemicals. Future prospects for enhancing the use of plant secondary metabolites in combating antibiotic-resistant pathogens will also be discussed.

Plant-Derived Coumarins: A Narrative Review of Their Structural and Biomedical Diversity

Plant-derived coumarin (PDC) is a naturally occurring heterocyclic backbone that belongs to the benzopyrone family. PDC and its based products are characterized by low toxicity and high distribution in a variety of herbal treatments that have numerous therapeutic potentials. These include anticoagulants, antibacterials, anti-inflammatory agents, anticancer agents, antioxidants, and others. So, it may be appropriate to investigate the qualities and potential bioactivities of PDCs. This article provides an overview of the biomedical potentials, availability, and clinical use possibilities of PDCs, with a focus on their important modes of action, using information on various pharmacological qualities discovered. The data used in this study came from published research between 2015 and 2023. We reviewed a selection of databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, during that period. In conclusion, because of their abundance in medicinal plants, the clinical biochemistry attributes of PDCs are currently of interest. In a variety of medical specialties, PDCs serve a useful role as therapeutic agents.

Design, Synthesis, Antifungal Activity, and 3D-QASR of Novel Oxime Ether-Containing Coumarin Derivatives as Potential Fungicides

Structural modification of natural products is an effective approach for improving antifungal activity and has, therefore, been used extensively in the development of new agrochemical products. In this work, a series of novel coumarin derivatives containing oxime ether structures were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for antifungal activity. Some of the designed compounds exhibited promising antifungal activities against tested fungi, and compounds 4a, 4c, 5a, and 6b had EC50 values equivalent to those of commercial fungicides. Compound 6b was the most promising candidate fungicide against Rhizoctonia solani (EC50 = 0.46 μg/mL). In vivo antifungal bioassays suggested that compounds 5a and 6b could serve as novel agricultural antifungals. Furthermore, microscopy demonstrated that compound 6b induced the sprawling growth of hyphae, distorted the outline of cell walls, and reduced mitochondrial numbers. Additionally, the effects of the substituent steric, electrostatic, hydrophobic, and hydrogen-bond fields were elucidated using an accurate and reliable three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) model. The results presented here will guide the discovery of potential novel fungicides for plant disease control in agriculture.

Annulated Heterocyclic[g]Coumarin Composites: Synthetic Approaches and Bioactive Profiling

Coumarins, widely abundant natural heterocyclic compounds, are extensively employed in creating various biologically and pharmacologically potent substances. The hybridization of heterocycles presents a key opportunity to craft innovative multicyclic compounds with enhanced biological activity. Fusing different heterocyclic rings with the coumarin structure presents an intriguing method for crafting fresh hybrid compounds possessing remarkable biological effects. In the pursuit of creating heterocyclic-fused coumarins, a wide range of annulated heterocyclic[g]coumarin composites has been introduced, displaying impressive biological potency. The influence of the linear attachment of heterocyclic rings to the coumarin structure on the biological performance of the resulting compounds has been investigated. This review centers on the synthetic methodologies, structural activity relationship investigation, and biological potentials of annulated heterocyclic[g]coumarin composites. We conducted searches across several databases, including Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus. After sieving, we ultimately identified and included 71 pertinent studies published between 2000 and the middle of 2023. This will provide valuable perspectives for medicinal chemists in the prospective design and synthesis of lead compounds with significant therapeutic effects, centered around heterocycle-fused coumarin frameworks.

Phytochemical and Pharmacological Aspects of Psoralen - A Bioactive Furanocoumarin from Psoralea corylifolia Linn

Since long ago, medicinal plants have played a vital role in drug discovery. Being blessed and rich in chemovars with diverse scaffolds, they have unique characteristics of evolving based on the need. The World Health Organization also mentions that medicinal plants remain at the center for meeting primary healthcare needs as the population relies on them. The plant-derived natural products have remained an attractive choice for drug development owing to their specific biological functions relevant to human health and also the high degree of potency and specificity they offer. In this context, one such esteemed phytoconstituent with inexplicable biological potential is psoralen, a furanocoumarin. Psoralen was the first constituent isolated from the plant Psoralea corylifolia, commonly known as Bauchi. Despite being a life-saver for psoriasis, vitiligo, and leukoderma, it also showed immense anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-osteoporotic potential. This review brings attention to the possible application of psoralen as an attractive target for rational drug design and medicinal chemistry. It discusses the various methods for the total synthesis of psoralen, its extraction, the pharmacological spectrum of psoralen, and the derivatization done on psoralen.

Investigation of cytotoxic and antioxidative activity of 1,2,3-triazolyl-modified furocoumarins and 2,3-dihydrofurocoumarins

High biological activity of natural furocoumarins is often linked to a series of adverse side effects, e.g., genotoxicity. This makes it desirable to develop semi-synthetic derivatives with reduced negative activity while retaining or even enhancing the positive properties. Previously, we have studied the genotoxic activity of a library of twenty-one 1,2,3-triazolyl-modified furocoumarins and 2,3-dihydrofurocoumarins and identified modifications that minimize the negative properties. In the current article, we report on an investigation into the cytotoxic activity of the same library. We have aimed to rank the substances in order of the severity of their cytotoxicity and therefore to predict, with the use of statistical processing, the most promising substituents for the furocoumarin scaffold.

Therapeutic Journey and Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Coumarin Derivatives

BACKGROUND

Coumarin is an oxygen-containing compound in medicinal chemistry. Coumarin plays an important role in both natural systems like plants and also in synthetic medicinal applications as drug molecules. Many structurally different coumarin compounds were found to show a big range of similarity with the vital molecular targets for their pharmacological action and small modifications in their structures resulted insignificant changes in their biological activities.

OBJECTIVE

This review gives detailed information about the studies of the recent advances in various pharmacological aspects of coumarins.

METHOD

Various oxygen-containing heterocyclic compounds represented remarkable biological significances. The fused aromatic oxygen-heterocyclic nucleus is able to change its electron density; thus changing the chemical, physical and biological properties respectively due to its multiple binding modes with the receptors, which play crucial role in pharmacological screening of drugs. A number of heterocyclic compounds have been synthesized which have their nucleus derived from various plants and animals. In coumarins, benzene ring is fused with pyrone nucleus which provides stability to the nucleus. Coumarins have shown a wide range of pharmacological activities such as anti-tumour, anti-coagulant, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antiviral, anti-malarial, anti-HIV and antimicrobial activity etc. Results: Reactive oxygen species like superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide are a type of unstable molecule that contains oxygen, which reacts with other molecules in the cell during the metabolism process but it may produce cytotoxicity when reactive oxygen species increase in number, by the damage of biological macromolecules. Hydroxyl radical (˙OH), is a strong oxidizing agent and it is responsible for the cytotoxicity by oxygen in different plants, animals and other microbes. coumarin is the oldest and effective compound having antimicrobial activity, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidepressant activity, analgesic, anticonvulsant activity, etc. Naturally existing coumarin compounds act against SARS-CoV-2 by preventing viral replication through the targeting on active site against the Mpro target protein.

CONCLUSION

This review highlights the different biological activities of coumarin derivatives. In this review we provide an updated summary of the researches which are related to recent advances in biological activities of coumarins analogue and their most recent activities against COVID -19. Natural compounds act as a rich resource for novel drug development against various SARS-CoV-2 viral strains including viruses like herpes simplex virus, influenza virus, human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, middle east respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Transdermal Delivery Systems of Natural Products Applied to Skin Therapy and Care

Natural products are favored because of their non-toxicity, low irritants, and market reacceptance. We collected examples, according to ancient wisdom, of natural products to be applied in transdermal delivery. A transdermal delivery system, including different types of agents, such as ointments, patches, and gels, has long been used for skin concerns. In recent years, many novel transdermal applications, such as nanoemulsions, liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, and microneedles, have been reported. Nanosized drug delivery systems are widely applied in natural product deliveries. Nanosized materials notably enhance bioavailability and solubility, and are reported to improve the transdermal permeation of many substances compared with conventional topical formulations. Natural products have been made into nanosized biomaterials in order to enhance the penetration effect. Before introducing the novel transdermal applications of natural products, we present traditional methods within this article. The descriptions of novel transdermal applications are classified into three parts: liposomes, emulsions, and lipid nanoparticles. Each section describes cases that are related to promising natural product transdermal use. Finally, we summarize the outcomes of various studies on novel transdermal agents applied to skin treatments.

Psoralen Derivatives with Enhanced Potency

Psoralen is a furocoumarin natural product that intercalates within DNA and forms covalent adducts when activated by ultraviolet radiation. It is well known that this property contributes to psoralen's clinical efficacy in several disease contexts, which include vitiligo, psoriasis, graft-versus-host disease and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Given the therapeutic relevance of psoralen and its derivatives, we attempted to synthesize psoralens with even greater potency. In this study, we report a library of 73 novel psoralens, the largest collection of its kind. When screened for the ability to reduce cell proliferation, we identified two derivatives even more cytotoxic than 4'-aminomethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen (AMT), one of the most potent psoralens identified to date. Using MALDI-TOF MS, we studied the DNA adduct formation for a subset of novel psoralens and found that in most cases enhanced DNA binding correlated well with cytotoxicity. Generally, our most potent derivatives contain positively charged substituents, which we believe increase DNA affinity and enhance psoralen intercalation. Thus, we provide a rational approach to guide efforts toward further optimizing psoralens to fully capitalize on this drug class' therapeutic potential. Finally, the structure-activity insights we have gained shed light on several opportunities to study currently underappreciated aspects of psoralen's mechanism.

Coumarins from the peel of citrus grown in Colombia: composition, elicitation and antifungal activity

The present work analyses the chromatographic profile of the peels from fruits of different citrus cultivated in Colombia: sweet orange (Citrus sinensis [L.] Osbeck var. Valencia), mandarins (Citrus reticulata L. var. Arrayana and Oneco), Key lime (Citrus aurantifolia [Christ.] Swingle var. Pajarito), Mandarine lime (Citrus x limonia, a hybrid between Citrus reticulata and Citrus x limon) and Tahitian lime (C. latifolia Tanaka, syn. Persian lime). Coumarins, furanocoumarins and polymethoxylated flavones are the major compounds. Then, six coumarins were isolated and identified from fruits of Tahitian and Key lime corresponding to 5-geranyloxy-7-methoxycoumarin; 5,7-dimethoxycoumarin (syn. limettin); 5,8-dimethoxypsoralen (syn. isopimpinellin); 5-methoxypsoralen (syn. bergaptene); 5-geranoxypsoralen (syn. bergamottin) and 5-(2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylbutoxy) psoralen (syn. oxypeucedanin hydrate). Coumarins and furanocoumarins were quantified by liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD). Results show that the prenylated compounds were present in high concentrations in Tahitian and Key lime but in very low amounts in mandarins and sweet orange. Subsequently, the antifungal activity (inhibition of mycelial growth and germination of spores) of the coumarins against the fungus causing the anthracnose, Colletotrichum sp. (isolated from aerial parts of Tahitian lime) was determined. The compounds limettin and bergaptene, as well as mixtures of them, showed significant inhibitory effect (radial growth and spore germination) when compared to the control. Finally, the effect of some recognized elicitors to induce the coumarin production in fruits of C. latifolia was evaluated. The results showed that the chemical profiles are dependent on the applied elicitor and the post-induction time. As a result of the induction, a high concentration of some coumarins and furanocoumarins was maintained in the course of time for the Tahitian lime. In conclusion, isolated coumarins could be involved in the defense mechanisms of C. latifolia, C. aurantifolia and C. limonia and their accumulation may be modulated by the application of elicitors.

Design, synthesis and antifungal activities of novel pyrrole- and pyrazole-substituted coumarin derivatives

We synthesized a series of novel pyrrole- and pyrazole-substituted coumarin derivatives and evaluated their antifungal activity against six phytopathogenic fungi in vitro. The primary assay results demonstrated that some designed compounds displayed potent activities. Among them, compounds 5g, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d and 6h exhibited more effective control than Osthole against Cucumber anthrax and Alternaria leaf spot. Furthermore, compound 5g displayed stronger antifungal activity against Rhizoctorzia solani (EC₅₀ = 15.4 µg/mL) than positive control Osthole (EC₅₀ = 67.2 µg/mL).

Psoralen Induces Developmental Toxicity in Zebrafish Embryos/Larvae Through Oxidative Stress, Apoptosis, and Energy Metabolism Disorder

Psoralen toxicity is an issue of wide concern. However, an assay for psoralen-induced developmental toxicity has not been reported to date. Moreover, the underlying mechanism of psoralen-induced developmental toxicity is unclear. Therefore, this study attempted to develop a psoralen-induced developmental toxicity assay in zebrafish embryos/larvae. Psoralen treatment caused a decrease in the hatching rate and body length and a significant increase in the malformation rate of zebrafish. Yolk retention, pericardial edema, swim-bladder deficiency, and curved body shape were also observed after psoralen treatment. Yolk retention might have been caused by an abnormality in lipid metabolism. Further experiments indicated that psoralen exerted toxic effects on the developing heart, liver, phagocytes, and nervous system. Increased generation of reactive oxygen species, inhibition of total superoxide dismutase activity, and increased malondialdehyde concentrations indicated inhibition of antioxidant capacity and the presence of oxidative stress. A greater number of apoptotic cells were observed after psoralen exposure, relative to the control. Furthermore, the results of gene-expression analysis showed that psoralen induced developmental toxicity by means of oxidative stress, apoptosis, and energy metabolism abnormalities. These findings will be helpful in understanding psoralen-induced toxicity.