Research progress on the pharmacological activity, biosynthetic pathways, and biosynthesis of crocins

• Zhongwei Hua,
• Nan Liu and
• Xiaohui Yan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 741–752, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.68

• Pharmacokinetic investigations have shown that crocins can be hydrolyzed to crocetin (1) in the gastrointestinal tract of mice. Crocetin derivatives can penetrate the blood–brain barrier to exert therapeutic effects on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, retinal diseases

• and environmentally friendly adsorbents for the selective adsorption of crocins from an aqueous solution of saffron pollen [25]. Pharmacological activity of crocins Various pharmacological studies have shown that crocins are effective against diseases of the central nervous system (neurodegenerative

• diseases, epilepsy, convulsion, and insomnia) and cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis). In addition, they also have anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, liver- and kidney-protective, antidepressant, and antidiabetic properties (Figure 2). Neuroprotection

Effects of the aldehyde-derived ring substituent on the properties of two new bioinspired trimethoxybenzoylhydrazones: methyl vs nitro groups

• Dayanne Martins,
• Roberta Lamosa,
• Talis Uelisson da Silva,
• Carolina B. P. Ligiero,
• Sérgio de Paula Machado,
• Daphne S. Cukierman and
• Nicolás A. Rey

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1713–1727, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.125

• compounds are stable at physiological-like conditions, especially the methyl-derived one, which qualifies them for further toxicological and activity studies, such as those involving trivalent metal ions sequestering in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. Keywords: DFT calculations; N-acylhydrazones

Cyclodextrins as building blocks for new materials

• Miriana Kfoury and
• Sophie Fourmentin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 889–891, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.66

• other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Due to their ability to extract cholesterol, treatment with CDs could reduce atherogenesis and atherosclerotic plaque size by solubilizing cholesterol crystals [9]. In addition, CDs can sequester cholesterol

Characterization of a new fusicoccane-type diterpene synthase and an associated P450 enzyme

• Jia-Hua Huang,
• Jian-Ming Lv,
• Liang-Yan Xiao,
• Qian Xu,
• Fu-Long Lin,
• Gao-Qian Wang,
• Guo-Dong Chen,
• Sheng-Ying Qin,
• Dan Hu and
• Hao Gao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1396–1402, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.144

• efficient modulators of 14-3-3 protein–protein interactions (PPIs) [3][4]. 14-3-3 PPIs, which refer to the binding interactions of 14-3-3 proteins with hundreds of “client” proteins, are associated with many diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases [3][4]. As a result, lots of attempts

Synthesis and HDAC inhibitory activity of pyrimidine-based hydroxamic acids

• Virginija Jakubkiene,
• Gabrielius Ernis Valiulis,
• Markus Schweipert,
• Asta Zubriene,
• Daumantas Matulis,
• Franz-Josef Meyer-Almes and
• Sigitas Tumkevicius

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 837–844, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.84

• also been shown to play a significant role in pathologies such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic disorders [1][2]. HDACs are structurally divided into 18 isoforms, which are grouped into 4 classes. The 11 isoforms belonging to classes I, II, and IV are dependent on the Zn2+ ion in

Synthesis of sulfur karrikin bioisosteres as potential neuroprotectives

• Martin Pošta,
• Václav Zima,
• Lenka Poštová Slavětínská,
• Marika Matoušová and
• Petr Beier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 549–554, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.57

• ; butenolides; karrikin; sulfur; Introduction Neurological disorders, especially the Alzheimer’s and the Parkinson’s diseases represent a serious problem for elderly populations worldwide. Studies of these neurodegenerative diseases led to the discovery of a deficit of acetylcholine and dopamine levels in the

Iodine-catalyzed electrophilic substitution of indoles: Synthesis of (un)symmetrical diindolylmethanes with a quaternary carbon center

• Thanigaimalai Pillaiyar,
• Masoud Sedaghati,
• Andhika B. Mahardhika,
• Lukas L. Wendt and
• Christa E. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1464–1475, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.102

• , and scalability to obtain gram amounts for biological studies. Selected compounds were found to display affinity for cannabinoid receptors, which are promising drug targets for the treatment of inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Keywords: alkylation of indole; anti-inflammatory; binding

Anion exchange resins in phosphate form as versatile carriers for the reactions catalyzed by nucleoside phosphorylases

• Julia N. Artsemyeva,
• Ekaterina A. Remeeva,
• Tatiana N. Buravskaya,
• Irina D. Konstantinova,
• Roman S. Esipov,
• Anatoly I. Miroshnikov,
• Natalia M. Litvinko and
• Igor A. Mikhailopulo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2607–2622, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.212

• Drug Administration (FDA, USA) in 2005 as an antileukemia drug [51][52][53][54][55][56]. KR belonging to a family of phytohormones [57], displays a broad spectrum of biological activity [58][59][60], and in the form of pro-tides revealed an interesting spectrum of activity against neurodegenerative

• diseases [60]. The reaction of the enzymatic transglycosylation was used by Krenitsky et al. in the practical synthesis of nelarabine (vide supra), whereas the preparation of KR has been reported earlier (i) by employing the selected whole E. coli cells [61][62] and briefly described (ii) by using the

Azologization and repurposing of a hetero-stilbene-based kinase inhibitor: towards the design of photoswitchable sirtuin inhibitors

• Christoph W. Grathwol,
• Nathalie Wössner,
• Sören Swyter,
• Adam C. Smith,
• Enrico Tapavicza,
• Robert K. Hofstetter,
• Anja Bodtke,
• Manfred Jung and
• Andreas Link

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2170–2183, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.214

• pan-sirtuin inhibitor nicotinamide (Figure 1). Likewise Sirt2 inhibition was shown to have beneficial effects in animal and cell models of neurodegenerative diseases like HD and Parkinson’s disease [11][12]. Sirt3 activity recently was found to play an important role in cardiovascular diseases and

Synthesis of nonracemic hydroxyglutamic acids

• Dorota G. Piotrowska,
• Iwona E. Głowacka,
• Andrzej E. Wróblewski and
• Liwia Lubowiecka

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 236–255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.22

• several neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer [8], Huntington [9], Parkinson [10]) as well as to stroke [11] and epilepsy [12]. Two main classes of receptors, each of them containing three subclasses which are further divided into subtypes have been established for glutamic acid. To understand the

Synthesis of a tyrosinase inhibitor by consecutive ethenolysis and cross-metathesis of crude cashew nutshell liquid

• Jacqueline Pollini,
• Valentina Bragoni and
• Lukas J. Gooßen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 2737–2744, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.252

• neurodegenerative diseases [30]. Therefore, the study and development of tyrosinase inhibitors from renewable resources is of particular interest for research and industry [31][32]. Fu et al. investigated naturally occurring ginkgolic acids which they selectively synthesized from 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid (4), and

Synthesis of naturally-derived macromolecules through simplified electrochemically mediated ATRP

• Paweł Chmielarz,
• Tomasz Pacześniak,
• Katarzyna Rydel-Ciszek,
• Izabela Zaborniak,
• Paulina Biedka and
• Andrzej Sobkowiak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2466–2472, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.243

• ][36], and neurodegenerative diseases [27]. PtBA was selected as functional arm of polymer stars because it can be readily transformed to poly(acrylic acid) via deprotection, yielding polyelectrolytes. Such polymers are one of the most extensively studied, industrially important, water-soluble

Synthesis of 1-indanones with a broad range of biological activity

• Marika Turek,
• Dorota Szczęsna,
• Marek Koprowski and
• Piotr Bałczewski

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 451–494, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.48

• neurodegenerative diseases and as effective insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. Keywords: biological activity; Diels–Alder reaction; Friedel–Crafts reaction; 1-indanones; Nazarov reaction; Introduction In the last few years, 1-indanone derivatives and their structural analogues have been widely used in

Interactions between cyclodextrins and cellular components: Towards greener medical applications?

• Loïc Leclercq

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 2644–2662, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.261

Synthesis of a deuterated probe for the confocal Raman microscopy imaging of squalenoyl nanomedicines

• Eric Buchy,
• Branko Vukosavljevic,
• Maike Windbergs,
• Dunja Sobot,
• Camille Dejean,
• Simona Mura,
• Patrick Couvreur and
• Didier Desmaële

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1127–1135, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.109

• : deuterium labelling; nanomedicine; Raman spectroscopy; Shapiro reaction; squalene; Introduction Application of nanotechnology to medicine holds promises to profoundly impact healthcare especially to treat severe diseases such as cancer, intracellular infections, neurodegenerative diseases, etc. Indeed, the

Synthesis, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity evaluation of new cholesterol congeners

• Mohamed Ramadan El Sayed Aly,
• Hosam Ali Saad and
• Shams Hashim Abdel-Hafez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2015, 11, 1922–1932, doi:10.3762/bjoc.11.208

• (V), were used to prepare nontoxic unilamellar vesicles as nanocarriers for gene delivery into Neuro2A cells, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases [19]. Also, the involvement of cholesterol metal ion complexes in Alzheimer’s disease was reviewed [20]. Cholesterol glycosides are known for

Exploration of C–H and N–H-bond functionalization towards 1-(1,2-diarylindol-3-yl)tetrahydroisoquinolines

• Michael Ghobrial,
• Marko D. Mihovilovic and
• Michael Schnürch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 2186–2199, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.226

• example activity against cancer cells by inhibition of Rad51 – a protein which interacts with the tumor suppressor BRCA2 (Figure 1, 1-(indol-3-yl)dihydroisoquinoline I) [2]. Furthermore, 1-(indol-3-yl)-THIQs are also investigated as agents against neurodegenerative diseases (Figure 1, II) [3]. Moreover

Stereocontrolled synthesis of 5-azaspiro[2.3]hexane derivatives as conformationally “frozen” analogues of L-glutamic acid

• Beatrice Bechi,
• David Amantini,
• Cristina Tintori,
• Maurizio Botta and
• Romano di Fabio

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 1114–1120, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.110

• -glutamic acid (L-Glu, 1) is of particular importance since it is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) and plays a critical role in a wide range of disorders like schizophrenia, depression, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and in

• , addiction, pain, epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Therefore, the identification of potent and selective mGluRs agonists and/or antagonists is critical to elucidate the role of the individual GluRs in the pathophysiology of these CNS diseases. In the last decade

Synthesis and biological activity of N-substituted-tetrahydro-γ-carbolines containing peptide residues

• Nadezhda V. Sokolova,
• Valentine G. Nenajdenko,
• Vladimir B. Sokolov,
• Daria V. Vinogradova,
• Elena F. Shevtsova,
• Ludmila G. Dubova and
• Sergey O. Bachurin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2014, 10, 155–162, doi:10.3762/bjoc.10.13

• treatment and prevention of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinsonism and the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is of considerable interest in modern medicinal chemistry. Mitochondrial dysfunction was found to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of these

Synthesis of the tetracyclic core of Illicium sesquiterpenes using an organocatalyzed asymmetric Robinson annulation

• Lynnie Trzoss,
• Jing Xu,
• Michelle H. Lacoske and
• Emmanuel A. Theodorakis

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2013, 9, 1135–1140, doi:10.3762/bjoc.9.126

• majucin-type sesquiterpenes is described here. This strategy is based on an organocatalyzed asymmetric Robinson annulation and provides an efficient approach for a diversity-oriented synthesis of Illicium natural products that holds remarkable therapeutic potential for neurodegenerative diseases

• . Keywords: natural products; neurodegenerative diseases; neurotrophic small molecule; organocatalysis; total synthesis; Introduction Neurotrophins are a family of endogenous proteins that are vital for neuron function, survival, and regeneration [1][2][3]. As such, they have prompted intense studies toward

• the treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease [4] and Parkinson’s disease [5]. Despite their unambiguous importance, approaches to neurotrophin-based drug development have encountered problems associated with their limited oral availability, insufficient delivery to

Regioselective synthesis of 7,8-dihydroimidazo[5,1-c][1,2,4]triazine-3,6(2H,4H)-dione derivatives: A new drug-like heterocyclic scaffold

• Nikolay T. Tzvetkov,
• Harald Euler and
• Christa E. Müller

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2012, 8, 1584–1593, doi:10.3762/bjoc.8.181

• therefore be developed for the treatment of haematological diseases, and inhibition of phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10), which is potentially useful for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Parkinson’s disease [11]. The scaffolds 1–4 consist of a 1,2,4-triazine core, which arises from the