Current Organic Chemistry - Current Issue

Pyrano[3,2-c]quinolone and pyrano[2,3-c]quinoline, as promising molecules, have garnered more attention due to their interesting biological properties. This review dealt with the catalytic synthesis of the former candidates in the last 20 years. Multi-component reactions (MCRs) are synthetic routes that produce a single product from three or more reactants in a one-pot step procedure. We herein reported on the advantages of catalysis in synthesizing the target compounds using the MCR sequence. We also discussed the mechanism and explained the chosen catalyst's utility in the target molecules' selectivity. Finally, this recent review focuses on the biological applications of these molecules as anticancer, antimicrobial activities, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-Alzheimer, and antitubercular agents.

Here, we report the solvent-free one-pot multicomponent synthesis of 4-substituted-1,5-benzodiazepine derivatives from O-phenylenediamine, aromatic aldehydes, and dimedone using [DBUH][HSO4] as a catalyst in excellent yields. This process was carried out in search of a reusable, easily accessible, affordable, and efficient catalyst. 1,5-Benzodiazepines demonstrate a new family of good inhibitors with potent anti-mycobacterial properties. The most promising compounds in the present series are 4c, 4i, and 4l which showed excellent activity and inhibited the growth of both MTB H37Ra and M. bovis BCG strains with lower MICs. The most active compounds were further studied for their cytotoxicity against cell lines MCF-7, A549, HCT116, and THP-1 by MTT assays and the compounds were found to be non-toxic. The fact that none of these compounds work against either Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria suggests that they are only effective against MTB. The in silico docking of the molecules against mycobacterial enoyl reductase, InhA enzyme could provide well-clustered solutions and have given valuable insights into the thermodynamic elements governing the binding affinities. The findings of this investigation unmistakably point to the discovery of extremely specific and selective MTB inhibitors, which can now be investigated further in search of possible anti-tubercular drugs.

In this paper, we present an efficient procedure for the transformation of a soybean phytosterol mixture into pregna-1,4,16-triene-3,20-dione, which is a key intermediate for the synthesis of valuable corticoids. The possibility of using two alternative methods for 1(2)-dehydrogenation of pregna-4,16-diene-3,20-dione-chemical and microbiological was shown. Microbiological 3-keto-4-ene steroid 1(2)-dehydrogenation was carried out using actinobacterial cells of Nocardioides simplex VKM Ac-2033D. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by the IR, MS, and ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR methods.