Highly bioactive novel aryl-, benzyl-, and piperazine-selenoureas: synthesis, structural characterization and in vitro biological evaluation

Selenoureas are widespread as useful elements for constructing important species and biologically active molecules. Finding an efficient and straightforward method to prepare this motif and biologically screen derivatives thereof is crucial. Herein, we demonstrate the effectiveness of using ethanol as a solvent in the preparation of various substituted aryl-, benzyl-, and piperazine-selenoureas from isoselenocyanates and amines. The synthetic method includes mild reaction conditions, large substrate scope, and good isolated yields. Biological evaluation of the prepared products on MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines revealed several remarkably active compounds (IC₅₀ < 10 μΜ) with the best one exhibiting IC₅₀ values of 1.8 μΜ and 1.2 μΜ observed against the challenging former triple-negative breast cancer cell line and the latter one, respectively. The chemical structures of all new compounds were fully characterized by multinuclear nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and high accuracy mass measurements.

Seleno Containing Compounds as Potent and Selective Antifungal Agents

Fungal promoted infections are becoming a severe health global emergency due to drug-resistant phenomena and zoonosis. This work investigated compounds bearing acyl-/selenoureido moieties and primary/secondary sulfonamide groups as novel antifungal agents acting through organism-directed selenium toxicity and inhibition of the newly emergent therapeutic target, the Carbonic Anhydrases (CAs; EC 4.2.1.1). Reported data clearly indicate that seleno-containing scaffolds with respect to the standard-of-care drugs showed appreciable antifungal activity, which was suppressed when the chalcogen was replaced with its cognate isosteric elements sulfur and oxygen. In addition, such compounds showed excellent selectivity against Malassezia pachydermatis over its related genus strains Malassezia furfur and Malassezia globosa. Safe cytotoxicity profiles on bovine kidney cells (MDBK) and human HaCat cells, as well as the shallow hemolytic activity on defibrinated sheep blood, allowed us to consider these compounds as up-and-coming novel antifungals.

Novel pyrimidinic selenourea induces DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in human breast carcinoma

Novel pyrimidinic selenoureas were synthesized and evaluated against tumour and normal cell lines. Among these, the compound named 3j initially showed relevant cytotoxicity and selectivity for tumour cells. Three analogues of 3j were designed and synthesized keeping in view the structural requirements of this compound. Almost all the tested compounds displayed considerable cytotoxicity. However, 8a, one of the 3j analogues, was shown to be highly selective and cytotoxic, especially for breast carcinoma cells (MCF-7) (IC₅₀ = 3.9 μM). Furthermore, 8a caused DNA damage, inhibited cell proliferation, was able to arrest cell cycle in S phase, and induced cell death by apoptosis in human breast carcinoma cells. Moreover, predictions of pharmacokinetic properties showed that 8a may present good absorption and permeation characteristics for oral administration. Overall, the current study established 8a as a potential drug prototype to be employed as a DNA interactive cytotoxic agent for the treatment of breast cancer.