Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 22, Issue 21, 2022

Evodiamine (EVO) is a natural quinolone alkaloid firstly isolated from the fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa, which is one of the most frequently used traditional Chinese herb for treating a variety of ailments, including headaches, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, amenorrhea difficult menstruation, postpartum hemorrhage, and other diseases. Latest pharmacological studies showed that EVO possesses a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities through different mechanisms. However, its moderate activities and poor physicochemical properties have hampered its clinical application. In this regard, the modification of EVO aiming at seeking derivatives with more potency and better physicochemical properties has been extensively emerging. These derivatives exhibit diverse biological activities, including antitumor, anti-Alzheimer's disease, anti-pulmonary hypertension, anti-fungi, and thermogenic activities via a variety of mechanisms. Moreover, they are described to act as single, dual, or multiple inhibitors or agonists of many proteins, such as topoisomerase I, topoisomerase II, tubulin, histone deacetylase, sirtuins, butyrylcholinesterase, phosphodiesterase 5, and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1. However, hitherto, there is no comprehensive review to systematically summarize the derivatives of EVO. Considering this perspective, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive description of them by focusing on their diverse biological activities. For each biological activity, the mechanisms and the main structureactivity relationships (SARs) will be presented in cases where adequate information is available. Finally, future directions of this class of compounds will be discussed. This review will be helpful in understanding and encouraging further exploration of EVO.

Indole (2,3-benzopyrrole) containing a pyrrolyl ring possesses the characteristic of electron- rich aromatic compounds. Indole occurs in the oil of jasmine and cloves and coal tar. Additionally, it is also present as a putrefaction product from animals' intestines. Notably, indole and its derivatives exhibit a wide range of biological properties, such as anti-Alzheimer’s disease, anti-cancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), anti-diabetic, antituberculosis, anti-oxidant, anti-coronavirus, and antifungal activities. In this mini-review, recent advances in biological activities, mechanisms of action, total synthesis, structural modifications, and structure-activity relationships of indole and its derivatives from 2018 to 2020 are described. We hope the present paper can pave the way for future design, development, and application of indole derivatives as potent drugs.

Caffeine, a simple purine alkaloid with the proper chemical name 1,3,7-trimethylpurine- 2,6-dione, is an abundant compound present in coffee, food and drugs. It interacts with various pathways of which antagonism of adenosine receptors is the most significant but the other physiological pathways can be influenced by caffeine as well. Interaction with glutamate and dopamine neurotransmission pathways, competition with other substrates on cytochrome P450, non-competitive inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, blocking of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and competitive inhibition of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase can be mentioned. Because of caffeine availability in foods, beverages and drugs, it has practical relevance even if the effect is weak. Intake of coffee containing edibles for a long period or even for a substantial part of life makes caffeine´s impact significant. Low acute and chronic toxicity of caffeine is another important specification. The discoveries from the last few years point to the fact that caffeine would interfere with the progression of some age-related neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and dementia with Lewy bodies. In this review article, the recent findings about caffeine´s impact on neurodegenerative diseases are presented and important facts about the caffeine effect, including the substantial discoveries, are described.

Chromenes are an important class of oxygen-containing heterocyclic compounds with intriguing biological activity, a simple structure with mild adverse effects. Chromenes are abundantly found in nature in the form of alkaloids, tocopherols, flavone, and anthocyanins. The Chromene nucleus is an important moiety for the discovery of new drug candidates. Chromene derivatives have shown various pharmacological activities like antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antitumour, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, anticholinesterase, EPR-1 (Effector cell Protease Receptor-1) antagonist and MAO (Mono-Amine Oxidase) inhibitors. In SAR (Structure Activity Relationship) studies with chromene nucleus, it was found that 4-aryl moiety, 3-cyano group, and 2-amino group are essential for the cytotoxic activity. Substitution at the 7th position with electron donating group enhances the pharmacological activity whereas the electron withdrawing group decreases the pharmacological activity. Structural modifications at the chromene ring, middle aliphatic portion, and terminal aromatic ring yielded more potential 5-HT1A (5-Hydroxytryptamine 1A) receptor affinity and antidiabetic activity. Chromenes with cyclic secondary amine and 4-hydroxy phenyl substituents yielded potent antimicrobial compounds. This review summarizes the importance of chromenes in rational drug design and the development of novel molecules with a variety of pharmacological activities.

SARS-CoV-2 infection is the most contagious among the three coronavirus infections the world has witnessed to date, which has affected almost all parts of the world in millions of population since its outbreak in China in December 2019. Moreover, it has severely hit the world economy and therefore there is a dire need to develop the treatment of this deadly disease. A number of potential vaccines are in the early or advanced stage of clinical trials. But the development of a vaccine is a very tedious and time-consuming task. Therefore, various groups are working on repurposing of drugs with already known safety and efficacy profiles to shorten the time of development of the potential treatment. The main aim of this review article is to summarize the clinical outcomes of Interleukin receptor antagonists and Janus kinase inhibitors based drugs which have been repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19 associated with SARS-CoV-2.

Acridine derivatives have been thoroughly investigated and discovered to have multitarget qualities, inhibiting topoisomerase enzymes that regulate topological changes in DNA and interfering with DNA's vital biological function. This article discusses current progress in the realm of novel 9-substituted acridine heterocyclic compounds, including the structure and structure– activity connection of the most promising molecules. The IC50 values of the new compounds against several human cancer cell lines will also be presented in the publication. The review also looks into the inhibition of topoisomerase by polycyclic aromatic compounds. Background: Acridine rings can be found in molecules used in many different areas, including industry and medicine. Nowadays, acridines with anti-bacterial activity are of research interest due to decreasing bacterial resistance. Some acridine derivatives showed antimalarial or antiviral activity. Acridine derivatives were also investigated for anti-tumor activity due to the interaction with topoisomerase II and DNA base pairs. Considering these possible uses of acridine derivatives, this work overviewed all significant structure performances for the specific action of these compounds. Objective: The objective of this study is to review the activity of acridines as anti-proliferative agents. Methods: This review is designed as acridines acting as topoisomerase I and II inhibitors/ poison, Acridines on the G-quadraplux interaction, Acridines with metal complexes, Acridines with quinacrine scaffold, Acridines with sulphur moiety. Conclusion: Although introduced in the 19^th century, acridine derivatives are still of scientific interest. In this review, acridine derivatives with various biological activities (antiparasitic, antiviral, anti-bacterial, and antiproliferative) and their structure-activity relationship analyses are presented. Although several mechanisms of their action are known, the only important are discussed here. It can be concluded that the dominant mechanisms are DNA intercalation and interaction with enzymes.

Background: Nanocarriers are nanoparticles used to transport functional substances. Objective: This study aimed to perform a systematic review analyzing the functional ability of dental materials after the inclusion of nanocarriers containing functional substances. Materials and Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, SciELO, and Science Direct from (02/03/21) to (02/06/21) without restriction on the year of publication. We included studies evaluating the incorporation of Chitosan, PEG-PCL (poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(-caprolactone), PLGA (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), and mesoporous silica into dental materials. We analyzed the risk of bias with CRIS guidelines and consolidated all analyses using Microsoft Office Excel. Results: In total, we found 656 studies and included 11. The articles investigated materials to eliminate microorganisms, interference with materials’ mechanical properties, elution of remineralizing substances, and reduction of oral anesthetic toxicity. Chitosan and mesoporous silica were the most prevalent nanocarriers. Among all properties, the antibacterial activity was the most analyzed. The functional ability of dental materials provided by all nanocarriers improved. Conclusion: The use of nanocarriers may be a useful way to produce dental materials with improved functional abilities. We registered this manuscript in the Open Science Framework platform - DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/RP5XK, available at https://osf.io/qg49x.