Gas-phase acidity of sulfonamides: implications for reactivity and prodrug design

A computational study at the density functional theory level was performed on bioactive and model sulfonamides with the aim of determining the factors affecting the acidity of the sulfonamido group. The effects of introducing different substiments at either the para-aryl or the N-1-sulfonamide positions were independently analyzed. A linear correlation was found between sulfonamide acidity and the Hammett constants or charge of the SO2 group of substituents at the para-aryl position. Most N-1-substituents were taken from bacteriostatic sulfonamide structures and presented a more complex behavior, possibly due to a conjugation of steric and electronic factors. In the latter situation, sulfonamide acidity and the charge of the SO2 group were not linearly correlated. Interestingly, the acidity of the sulfonamido group was found to be correlated with the reactivity of sulfa drugs towards acylating agents. The implications for the design of suitable sulfonamide prodrugs are discussed

Falcipains, Plasmodium falciparum Cysteine Proteases as Key Drug Targets Against Malaria

There is a high demand for new drugs against malaria, which takes millions of lives annually. The abuse of classical antimalarials from the late 1940's to the early 1980's has bred resistant parasites, which led to the use of more potent drugs that ended up by refueling the resistance cycle. An example is chloroquine, once highly effective but now virtually useless against malaria. Structure-based rational drug design relies on high-resolution target structures to allow for screening of selective ligands/inhibitors. For the past two decades, and especially after the unveiling of the Plasmodium falciparum genome in 2002, enzymes of this lethal malaria parasite species have been increasingly attracting the attention of Medicinal Chemists worldwide as promising drug targets. There is particular emphasis on proteases having key roles on the degradation of host's hemoglobin within the food vacuole of blood-stage parasites, as these depend on such process for their survival. Among such enzymes, Plasmepsins (aspartic proteases) and, especially, Falcipains (cysteine proteases) are highly promising antimalarial drug targets. The present review will focus on the computational approaches made so far towards the unraveling of the structure, function and inhibition of Falcipains that, by virtue of their quite specific features, are excellent targets for highly selective inhibitors

Surface model and exchange-correlation functional effects on the description of Pd/alpha-Al2O3(0001)

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Combined experimental and computational study of the thermochemistry of methylpiperidines

To understand the influence of the methyl group in the stability and conformational behavior of the piperidine ring, the standard (p(0) = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation of 1-methylpiperidine, 3-methylpiperidine, 4-methylpiperidine, 2,6-dimethylpiperidine, and 3,5-dimethylpiperidine, both in the liquid and in the gaseous states, were determined at the temperature of 298.15 K. The numerical values of the enthalpies of formation in the liquid and in the gaseous state are, respectively, -(95.9 +/- 1.6) and -(59.1 +/- 1.7) kJ, mol(-1) for 1-methylpiperidine; -(123.6 +/- 1.4) and -(79.2 +/- 1.6) kJ, mol(-1) for 3-methylpiperidine; -(123.5 +/- 1.5) and -(82.9 +/- 1.7) kJ, mol(-1) for 4-methylpiperidine; -(153.6 +/- 2.1) and -(111.2 +/- 2.2) kJ, mol(-1) for 2,6-dimethylpiperidine; and -(155.0 +/- 1.7) and -(105.9 +/- 1.8) kJ, mol(-1) for 3,5-dimethylpiperidine. In addition, and to be compared with the experimental results, theoretical calculations were carried out considering different ab initio and density functional theory based methods. The standard molar enthalpies of formation of the four isomers of methylpiperidine and of the 12 isomers of dimethylpiperidine have been computed. The G3MP2B3-derived numbers are in excellent agreement with experimental data, except in the case of 2,6-dimethylpiperidine for which a deviation of 9 kJ (.) mol(-1) was found. Surprisingly, the DFT methods fail in the prediction of these properties with the exception of the most approximated SVWN functional

Energetics of the N-O bonds in 2-hydroxyphenazine-di-N-oxide

The standard enthalpy of formation and the enthalpy of sublimation of crystalline 2-hydroxyphenazine-diN-oxide, at T = 298.15 K, were determined from isoperibol static bomb combustion calorimetry and from Knudsen effusion experiments, as -76.7 +/- 4.2 kJ center dot mol(-1) and 197 5 kJ center dot mol(-1), respectively. The sum of these two quantities gives the standard enthalpy of formation in the gas-phase for this compound, Delta(f)H(m)degrees(g) = 120 6 KJ center dot mol(-1). This value was combined with the gas-phase standard enthalpy of formation for 2-hydroxyphenazine retrieved from a group estimative method yielding the mean (N-O) bond dissociation enthalpy, in the gas-phase, for 2-hydroxyphenazine-di-N-oxide. The result obtained with this strategy is = 263 +/- 4 KJ center dot mol(-1), which is in excellent agreement with the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p)// B3LYP/6-31G(d) computed value, 265 KJ center dot mol(-1)

Combined experimental and computational study of the thermochemistry of methylpiperidines

To understand the influence of the methyl group in the stability and conformational behavior of the piperidine ring, the standard (p(0) = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation of 1-methylpiperidine, 3-methylpiperidine, 4-methylpiperidine, 2,6-dimethylpiperidine, and 3,5-dimethylpiperidine, both in the liquid and in the gaseous states, were determined at the temperature of 298.15 K. The numerical values of the enthalpies of formation in the liquid and in the gaseous state are, respectively, -(95.9 +/- 1.6) and -(59.1 +/- 1.7) kJ, mol(-1) for 1-methylpiperidine; -(123.6 +/- 1.4) and -(79.2 +/- 1.6) kJ, mol(-1) for 3-methylpiperidine; -(123.5 +/- 1.5) and -(82.9 +/- 1.7) kJ, mol(-1) for 4-methylpiperidine; -(153.6 +/- 2.1) and -(111.2 +/- 2.2) kJ, mol(-1) for 2,6-dimethylpiperidine; and -(155.0 +/- 1.7) and -(105.9 +/- 1.8) kJ, mol(-1) for 3,5-dimethylpiperidine. In addition, and to be compared with the experimental results, theoretical calculations were carried out considering different ab initio and density functional theory based methods. The standard molar enthalpies of formation of the four isomers of methylpiperidine and of the 12 isomers of dimethylpiperidine have been computed. The G3MP2B3-derived numbers are in excellent agreement with experimental data, except in the case of 2,6-dimethylpiperidine for which a deviation of 9 kJ (.) mol(-1) was found. Surprisingly, the DFT methods fail in the prediction of these properties with the exception of the most approximated SVWN functional

Thermochemical studies on 3-methyl-quinoxaline-2-carboxamide-1,4-dioxide derivatives: Enthalpies of formation and of N-O bond dissociation

The standard molar enthalpies of formation of the 3-methyl-N-R-2- quinoxalinecarboxamide-1,4-dioxides (R = H, phenyl, 2-tolyl) in the gas phase were derived using the values for the enthalpies of combustion of the crystalline compounds, measured by static bomb combustion calorimetry, and for the enthalpies of sublimation, measured by Knudsen effusion, at T = 298.15 K. These values have also been used to calibrate a computational procedure that has been employed to estimate the gas-phase enthalpies of formation of the corresponding 3-methyl-N-R-2-quinoxalinecarboxamides and also to compute the first, second, and mean N-O bond dissociation enthalpies in the gas phase. It is found that the size of the substituent almost does not influence the computed N-O bond dissociation enthalpies; the maximum enthalpic difference is 5 kJ·mol-1. © 2007 American Chemical Society

Amino acids as selective sulfonamide acylating agents

Acylation of antimalarial and bacteriostatic sulfonamides with N-protected amino acids and peptides was carried out using standard peptide coupling methods. These acylation reactions are regioselective for the N-4 nitrogen atom of diazine-containing sulfonamides. In contrast, only N-1 coupling was found for sulfisoxazole, an isoxazole-based sulfonamide. Computational studies suggest that a combination of geometrical, thermodynamic and electronic factors are responsible for the different reactivities reported. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved