Fluorinated heterocyclic compounds. A photochemical approach to a synthesis of fluorinated quinazolin-4-ones

An efficient and generalized photochemical methodology for the preparation of fluorinated quinazolin-4-ones is described. Depending on the starting substrate, quinazolin-4-ones bearing a perfluoroalkyl- or perfluoroaryl- substituent in position 2 or fluorine atoms on any positions of the benzo-fused moiety can easily be obtained. 5-Aryl-3-perfluoroalkylpentafluorophenyl- or 5-polyfluoroaryl-3-phenyl(methyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazoles, respectively, can be considered as ideal precursors that can be transformed into the target quinazolin-4-ones by irradiation in the presence of triethylamine (TEA) (at λ = 313 nm) or pyrene (at λ = 365 nm) in dry methanol or acetonitrile as solvent. Some mechanistic considerations confirm the involvement of a photoinduced electron transfer process

Fluorinated heterocyclic compounds. A photochemical approach to a synthesis of polyfluoroaryl-1,2,4-triazoles

The reaction of some fluorinated 1,2,4-oxadiazoles in the presence of methylamine or propylamine has been investigated. The irradiation in methanol or acetonitrile leads with acceptable yields to the corresponding fluorinated 1-methyl- or 1-propyl-1,2,4-triazole

Synthesis of platinum complexes with 2-(5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3yl)-pyridine and 2-(3-perfluoroalkyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine ligands and their in vitro antitumor activity

Five new mononuclear Pt(II) complexes with 5-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-oxadiazolyl-pyridine and 3-perfluoroalkyl-1,2,4-triazolyl-pyridine ligands are reported. The ligands 2-(5-perfluoroheptyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole-3yl)-pyridine (pfhop), 2-(5-perfluoropropyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazole-3yl)-pyridine (pfpop), 2-(3-perfluoroheptyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine (pfhtp), 2-(3-perfluoropropyl-1-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-5yl)-pyridine (pfptp) and their complexes [PtCl2(pfhop)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (2a), [PtCl2(pfpop)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (3a), [PtCl2(pfhtp)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (4a), PtCl2(pfhtp) (4b), [PtCl2(PfPtP)(2)]center dot 1.5 DMSO (5a) have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The complexes 2a, 3a, 4a and 5a have the same chemical environment of Pt(II) where PtCl2 moieties coordinate two molecules of ligand via N1 atom of pyridine in the case of pfhop and pfpop, and N2 atom of 1,2,4-triazole in the case of pfhtp and pfptp. For 4b, pfhtp behaves as bidentate ligand, coordinating Pt(II) ion via N4 atom of triazole and N1 atom of pyridine. All complexes have been tested in vitro by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)bromide-2,5-diphenyl-2 H-tetrazolium (MTT) test on four tumor cell lines MCF-7 (human breast cancer), HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma), HCT116 (human colorectal carcinoma). Compounds 2a and 4b showed a dose-dependent anti-proliferative effect against the three tumor cell lines whereas did not affect viability of intestinal normal-like differentiated Caco-2 cells. The cell death of HepG2, MCF-7 and HCT116 induced by the compounds, was considered to be apoptotic by measuring the exposure of phosphatidylserine to the outer membrane and observing the typical apoptotic morphological change by acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) stainin

Flavouring extra-virgin olive oil with aromatic and medicinal plants essential oils stabilizes oleic acid composition during photo-oxidative stress

Essential oils (EOs) from medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are well-known as natural antioxidants. Their addition to extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) can contribute to reducing fat oxidation. The main aim of this study was to improve both food shelf-life and aromatic flavour of EVOO, adding different EOs of Sicilian accessions of common sage, oregano, rosemary and thyme. The morphological and production characteristics of 40 accessions of MAPs were preliminarily assessed. EOs from the most promising accessions of MAPs were analysed by gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry. Photo-oxidative studies of the EOs were carried out and the determination of the EVOO fatty acids obtained from 4 Italian olive varieties was also made. EO content was on average 1.45% (v/w) for common sage, 3.97% for oregano, 1.42% for rosemary and 5.90% for thyme accessions. The highest average EO yield was found in thyme (172.70 kg ha1) whilst the lowest (9.30 kg ha1) in rosemary accessions. The chemical composition of EOs was very different in the four MAPs in the study. No significant change of oleic acid percentage was detected in the mixture of EVOO with EO samples. The results seem to highlight the presence of an antioxidant effect of EOs on EVOO

Klebsiella pneumoniae Lipopolysaccharides Serotype O2afg Induce Poor Inflammatory Immune Responses Ex Vivo

Currently, Klebsiella pneumoniae is a pathogen of clinical relevance due to its plastic ability of acquiring resistance genes to multiple antibiotics. During K. pneumoniae infections, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) play an ambiguous role as they both activate immune responses but can also play a role in immune evasion. The LPS O2a and LPS O2afg serotypes are prevalent in most multidrug resistant K. pneumoniae strains. Thus, we sought to understand if those two particular LPS serotypes were involved in a mechanism of immune evasion. We have extracted LPS (serotypes O1, O2a and O2afg) from K. pneumoniae strains and, using human monocytes ex vivo, we assessed the ability of those LPS antigens to induce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. We observed that, when human monocytes are incubated with LPS serotypes O1, O2a or O2afg strains, O2afg and, to a lesser extent, O2a but not O1 failed to elicit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which suggests a role in immune evasion. Our preliminary data also shows that nuclear translocation of NF-κB, a process which regulates an immune response against infections, occurs in monocytes incubated with LPS O1 and, to a smaller extent, with LPS O2a, but not with the LPS serotype O2afg. Our results indicate that multidrug resistant K. pneumoniae expressing LPS O2afg serotypes avoid an initial inflammatory immune response and, consequently, are able to systematically spread inside the host unharmed, which results in the several pathologies associated with this bacterium

A recent portrait of bioactive triazoles

Scientists have extensively explored new synthetic routes in order to obtain 1,2,3- and 1,2,4-triazoles as they represent a very interesting class of compounds due to their wide range of biological activities such as antitumor, antiinflammatory, analgesic, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, etc. This mini review reports the synthesis and the biological activities of compounds containing a triazole moiety published since 2007. No attempt is made to provide a comprehensive literature overview, our aim is to highlight some more recent examples of synthetic biological active compounds. In particular, we focus on the applications of “click reactions” that allow the regioselective synthesis of 1,2,3 triazoles as well as on bioactive 1,2,4 triazoles obtained by classic and improved synthetic methodologies. Moreover bioactivity of glycoconjugated, and metal complexes with triazole as ligands are herein discussed, fused ring heterocycles have not been taken into account. Where possible some comments on structure-activity relationships are referred

What's Curcumin's mind? The potential role of Curcuminoids in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are one of major public health problems and their impact is continuously growing. Curcumin has been proposed for the treatment of several of these pathologies, such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD) and Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) due to the ability of this molecule to reduce inflammation and aggregation of involved proteins. Nevertheless, the poor metabolic stability and bioavailability of curcumin reduce the possibilities of its practical use. In this review will be highlighted recent results on curcumin and curcuminoids in the search of new effective therapeutic agents against NDs, with particular emphasis on AD

Heterocyclic rearrangements in constrained media. A zeolite-directed photorearrangement of 1,2,4-oxadiazoles

The first intrazeolite-photoinduced rearrangement of a five-membered heterocycle is reported. A completely different behavior compared to solution irradiations has been observed. The zeolite's role in directing the photoreaction of 3-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles toward the formation of the corresponding 1,3,4-oxadiazoles in a ring contraction−ring expansion route is discussed