Self-Assembly of Peptides to Nanostructures

The formation of well-ordered nanostructures through self-assembly of diverse organic and inorganic building blocks has drawn much attention owing to their potential applications in biology and chemistry. Among all organic building blocks, peptides are one of the most promising platforms due to their biocompatibility, chemical diversity, and resemblance with proteins. Inspired from the protein assembly in biological systems, various self-assembled peptide structures have been constructed using several amino acids and sequences. This review focuses on this emerging area, the recent advances in peptide self-assembly, and formation of different nanostructures, such as tubular, fibers, vesicles, spherical, and red coil structures. While different peptide nanostructures are discovered, potential applications will be explored in drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound healing, and surfactants

Polystyrene-Supported Aluminum Chloride as an Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Condensation of Indole with Various Carbonyl Compounds

Crosslinked polystyrene-supported aluminum chloride (PS-AlCl3) is a stable, recyclable and environmental friendly heterogeneous catalyst for the condensation of indole with aldehydes and ketones to afford diindolylmethanes. In addition, PS-AlCl3 shows satisfactory selectivity in the reaction of mixtures of an aldehyde and a ketone with indole. Although AlCl3 is a water sensitive, corrosive and environmentally harmful compound, PS-AlCl3 is a stable and water-tolerant species. The mild reaction conditions, short reaction times, easy work-up, high to excellent yields, chemoselectivity, reuse of the catalyst for at least ten times without significant change in its catalytic activity, low cost, and easy preparation and handling of the polymeric catalyst are obvious advantages of the present method

Efficient Intracellular Delivery of Cell-Impermeable Cargo Molecules by Peptides Containing Tryptophan and Histidine

We have previously evaluated and reported numerous classes of linear and cyclic peptides containing hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments for intracellular delivery of multiple molecular cargos. Herein, a combination of histidine and tryptophan amino acids were designed and evaluated for their efficiency in intracellular delivery of cell-impermeable phosphopeptides and the anti-HIV drug, emtricitabine. Two new decapeptides, with linear and cyclic natures, both containing alternate tryptophan and histidine residues, were synthesized using Fmoc/tBu solid-phase chemistry. The peptides were characterized and purified by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. These peptides did not show significant toxicity up to 100 μM in ovarian cancer (SK-OV-3) and leukemia cancer (CCRF-CEM) cells. Furthermore, the cellular uptake of a fluorescence (F’)-labeled cell-impermeable phosphopeptide (F’-GpYEEI) was enhanced in the presence of linear (WH)5 and cyclic [WH]5 by 2- and 8-fold, respectively, compared to the uptake of the phosphopeptide alone. The cellular uptake was not significantly changed in the presence of endocytosis inhibitors. Furthermore, the intracellular uptake of the fluorescently-labeled anti-HIV drug, emtricitabine (F’-FTC), by linear (WH)5 and cyclic [WH]5 in SK-OV-3 cancer cell lines was found to be enhanced by 3.5- and 9-fold, respectively, compared to that of the drug alone. Fluorescent uptake experiments confirmed the localization of F’-GpYEEI-loaded cyclic [WH]5 intracellularly in the SK-OV-3 cancer cell line after 3 h of incubation. Thus, these data demonstrated that [WH]5 containing tryptophan and histidine enhanced the cellular uptake of F’-GpYEEI and emtricitabine

Cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine as Src kinase inhibitors

A number of cyclic and linear peptides containing various combinations of amino acids were evaluated for their Src kinase inhibitory potency. Among all the peptides, cyclic decapeptide C[RW]5 containing alternative arginine (R) and tryptophan (W) residues was found to be the most potent Src kinase inhibitor. C[RW]5 showed higher inhibitory activity (IC50 = 2.8 μM) than C[KW]5, L(KW)5, C[RW]4, and C[RW]3 with IC50 values of 46.9, 69.1, 21.5, and 25.0 μM, respectively, as determined in a fluorescence intensity-based assay. Thus, the cyclic nature, the presence of arginine, ring size, and the number of amino acids in the structure of the peptide were found to be critical in Src kinase inhibitory potency. The IC50 value of C[RW]5 was found to be 0.8 μM in a radioactive assay using [γ-32P]-ATP and polyE4Y as the substrate. C[RW]5 was a noncompetitive Src kinase inhibitor, showing approximately fourfold more selectivity towards Src than Abl

Cyclic peptides containing tryptophan and arginine as Src kinase inhibitors

A number of cyclic and linear peptides containing various combinations of amino acids were evaluated for their Src kinase inhibitory potency. Among all the peptides, cyclic decapeptide C[RW]5 containing alternative arginine (R) and tryptophan (W) residues was found to be the most potent Src kinase inhibitor. C[RW]5 showed higher inhibitory activity (IC50 = 2.8 μM) than C[KW]5, L(KW)5, C[RW]4, and C[RW]3 with IC50 values of 46.9, 69.1, 21.5, and 25.0 μM, respectively, as determined in a fluorescence intensity-based assay. Thus, the cyclic nature, the presence of arginine, ring size, and the number of amino acids in the structure of the peptide were found to be critical in Src kinase inhibitory potency. The IC50 value of C[RW]5 was found to be 0.8 μM in a radioactive assay using [γ-32P]-ATP and polyE4Y as the substrate. C[RW]5 was a noncompetitive Src kinase inhibitor, showing approximately fourfold more selectivity towards Src than Abl. [Refer to PDF for graphical abstract

Efficient Delivery of Cell Impermeable Phosphopeptides by a Cyclic Peptide Amphiphile Containing Tryptophan and Arginine

Phosphopeptides are valuable reagent probes for studying protein–protein and protein–ligand interactions. The cellular delivery of phosphopeptides is challenging because of the presence of the negatively charged phosphate group. The cellular uptake of a number of fluorescent-labeled phosphopeptides, including F′-GpYLPQTV, F′-NEpYTARQ, F′-AEEEIYGEFEAKKKK, F′-PEpYLGLD, F′-pYVNVQN-NH2, and F′-GpYEEI (F′ = fluorescein), was evaluated in the presence or absence of a [WR]4, a cyclic peptide containing alternative arginine (R) and tryptophan (W) residues, in human leukemia cells (CCRF-CEM) after 2 h incubation using flow cytometry. [WR]4 improved significantly the cellular uptake of all phosphopeptides. PEpYLGLD is a sequence that mimics the pTyr1246 of ErbB2 that is responsible for binding to the Chk SH2 domain. The cellular uptake of F′-PEpYLGLD was enhanced dramatically by 27-fold in the presence of [WR]4 and was found to be time-dependent. Confocal microscopy of a mixture of F′-PEpYLGLD and [WR]4 in live cells exhibited intracellular localization and significantly higher cellular uptake compared to that of F′-PEpYLGLD alone. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and isothermal calorimetry (ITC) were used to study the interaction of PEpYLGLD and [WR]4. TEM results showed that the mixture of PEpYLGLD and [WR]4 formed noncircular nanosized structures with width and height of 125 and 60 nm, respectively. ITC binding studies confirmed the interaction between [WR]4 and PEpYLGLD. The binding isotherm curves, derived from sequential binding models, showed an exothermic interaction driven by entropy. These studies suggest that amphiphilic peptide [WR]4 can be used as a cellular delivery tool of cell-impermeable negatively charged phosphopeptides

Copper(II) triflate-mediated synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles in [bmim][PF6] ionic liquid and evaluation of their anticancer activities

A simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly protocol for the synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylpyrazole in [bimm][PF6] ionic liquid mediated by Cu(OTf)2 is described. The reaction protocol gave 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles in good to high yields (71-82%) via a one-pot addition–cyclocondensation between hydrazines and chalcones, and oxidative aromatization without requirement for an additional oxidizing reagent. The catalyst can be reused up to four cycles without much loss in the catalytic activity. The pyrazoles (4a-o) and pyrazolines (3a-n) were evaluated for antiproliferative activity in SK-OV-3, HT-29, and HeLa human cancer cells lines. Among all compounds, 3b inhibited cell proliferation of HeLa cells by 80% at a concentration of 50 μM

3-Substitued indoles: One-pot synthesis and evaluation of anticancer and Src kinase inhibitory activities

An efficient and economical method was developed for the synthesis of 3-substituted indoles by one-pot three-component coupling reaction of a substituted or unsubstituted benzaldehyde, N-methylaniline, and indole or N-methylindole using Yb(OTf)3–SiO2 as a catalyst. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for inhibition of cell proliferation of human colon carcinoma (HT-29), human ovarian adenocarcinoma (SK-OV-3), and c-Src kinase activity. The 4-methylphenyl (4o and 4p) and 4-methoxyphenyl (4q) indole derivatives inhibited the cell proliferation of SK-OV-3 and HT-29 cells by 70–77% at a concentration of 50 μM. The unsubstituted phenyl (4d) and 3-nitrophenyl (4l) derivatives showed the inhibition of c-Src kinase with IC50 values of 50.6 and 58.3 μM, respectively. [Refer to PDF for graphical abstract

Copper Triflate-Mediated Synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles in [bmim][PF6] Ionic Liquid and Evaluation of Their Anticancer Activities

A simple, efficient, and environment friendly protocol for the synthesis of 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles and 1,3,5-triarylpyrazolines in [bmim][PF6] ionic liquid mediated by Cu(OTf)2 is described. The reaction protocol gave 1,3,5-triarylpyrazoles in good to high yields (71–84%) via a one-pot addition–cyclocondensation between chalcones and arylhydrazines, and oxidative aromatization without the requirement for an additional oxidizing reagent. The catalyst can be reused for up to four cycles without much loss in the catalytic activity. The pyrazoles (4a–o) and pyrazolines (3a–n) were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity in SK-OV-3, HT-29, and HeLa human cancer cells lines. Among all the compounds, 3b inhibited cell proliferation of HeLa cells by 80% at a concentration of 50 μM

A Greener Synthesis of 2-Aminochromenes in Ionic Liquid and Evaluation of Their Antiproliferative Activities

An improved simple and facile synthesis of chromene derivatives by employing threecomponent one-pot condensation reaction of β-naphthol, aromatic aldehydes, and malononitrile in ionic liquids is described