In vitro antiproliferative activity of some fluoro-substituted benzimidazole-based scaffolds

In the present work, a series of fluoro-substituted benzimidazole derivatives were designed and synthesized as antiproliferative agents. The antiproliferative activity of these compounds was investigated using MTT assay. Fluoro-substituted benzimidazole derivatives showed significant antiproliferative activity against all the tested cancer cell lines. All the derivatives were found to be less toxic as compared to methotrexate (positive control) in human cells, indicating selective and efficient antiproliferative activity of these benzimidazole derivatives. These findings suggest that compounds ORT14 and ORT15 among this series are most effective and have potential for detailed investigations.

Antibacterial activity of some 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrrole derivatives and molecular docking studies

Pyrrole compounds are important classes of heterocycle compounds in the search for effective agents against multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. With an approach to reduce the growing bacterial resistance and to discover more active antibacterial agents with fewer side effects, the previously synthesized 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrrole derivatives were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity by disc diffusion method against some gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, for the first time. The results indicated that compounds 4, 11, and 12 showed promising antibacterial activity against gram-positive S. aureus and B. cereus bacteria equal or more than standard as tetracycline. Molecular docking studies were employed both to explain the activity results of the more active compounds at the level of protein-ligand interactions and to compare the interactions of these compounds with the interactions of tetracycline. The relationship between structure and antibacterial activity was also discussed.

New molecule design with in-silico methods for Covid-19 treatment

Intensive studies are being conducted to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies for the Covid-19 pandemic. During a pandemic, it is vital to act quickly to develop a defense strategy. It usually takes a long time to develop a preventive vaccine, and immediate drug development is needed to reduce the impact of the rapidly increasing Covid-19 pandemic. This study aimed to design an effective and potent drug by selecting remdesivir, a nucleotide analog prodrug that inhibits viral RNA polymerases and is known to be active against Covid-19. Remdesivir is metabolized into active nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) by the host; this metabolite competes with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for incorporation into the nascent RNA strand. Therefore, molecular docking studies have been conducted based on NTP (the active form of remdesivir), and a target molecule that could be effective against Covid-19 has been designed.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 1,3,5-triazine-substituted ureido benzenesulfonamides as antioxidant, acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors

A series of twenty 1,3,5-triazine-substituted ureido benzenesulfonamides 2 (a-e) and 3 (a-o) were re-synthesized and assayed for antioxidant properties by using several different methods including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, 2,2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) cation radical decolarization assay, metal chelating and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) methods. The inhibitory effects of compounds on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes have been also demonstrated. All compounds showed a greater antioxidant capacity against ABTS assay by having a more potent activity than the standards BHT, BHA and α-TOC. In general, all compounds were non susceptible to against AChE enzyme. On the other hand, several lead compounds were obtained from the current series against BChE enzyme. More specifically, compound 3m showed great inhibition profile against BChE with % inhibition value of 93.77, which is better than the standard drug galantamine (% inhibition value of 87.86).