Diazirine-functionalized mannosides for photoaffinity labeling: trouble with FimH

• Femke Beiroth,
• Tomas Koudelka,
• Thorsten Overath,
• Stefan D. Knight,
• Andreas Tholey and
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1890–1900, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.163

• -functionalized mannosides as high-affinity FimH ligands and performed an extensive study on photo-crosslinking of the best ligand (mannoside 3) with a series of model peptides and FimH. Notably, we have employed high-performance mass spectrometry to be able to detect radiation results with the highest possible

• labeling studies with more complex substrates. Irradiation of mannoside 3 and model peptides In analogy to our earlier work, we first used a series of model peptides (M2, M3, M7, M8, T3, and S17, cf. Table 2) for the photolabeling experiments with mannoside 3. These model peptides were chosen rather

• the peptides in a 1:1 ratio. After irradiation with UV light, two new signals were detected in nano-LC–ESIMS experiments in comparison to the original peptide spectra (Table 2). It should be noted that whereas we could monitor photodecomposition of the photolabels by 19F NMR spectroscopy (cf. [29

A hemicryptophane with a triple-stranded helical structure

• Augustin Long,
• Olivier Perraud,
• Erwann Jeanneau,
• Christophe Aronica,
• Jean-Pierre Dutasta and
• Alexandre Martinez

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1885–1889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.162

• a better understanding of the properties of this biological system and giving rise to numerous applications ranging from artificial collagenous biomaterials to peptides for therapeutic uses [3][4][5]. Recently, molecular cages presenting a triple helical structure have aroused a considerable

Defining the hydrophobic interactions that drive competence stimulating peptide (CSP)-ComD binding in Streptococcus pneumoniae

• Bimal Koirala,
• Robert A. Hillman,
• Erin K. Tiwold,
• Michael A. Bertucci and
• Yftah Tal-Gan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1769–1777, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.151

• the CSP signal that they produce (CSP1 and CSP2, Figure 1) and their cognate receptors (ComD1 and ComD2, respectively), with minimal cross-talk between the groups [28]. The two CSP signals share approximately 50% homology and differ mainly in hydrophobic residues in the central region of the peptides

• (in addition to upregulation of ComX). ComD modulation can therefore be quantified by measuring β-gal activity. The peptides were first screened for their ability to activate/inhibit the ComD1 and ComD2 receptors at high concentration (10 µM). Only analogs that exhibited greater than 75% activation

• of 0.2 M. Reactions were run at 50 W at a temperature of 75 °C for 8 minutes, followed by 2 × 3 min deprotection with 20% piperidine in DMF. Peptide purification. Crude peptides were purified with RP-HPLC. The crude peptide was dissolved in ACN/H2O (1:4) and purified in 2.0–2.4 mL portions on either

Synthesis and photophysical studies of a multivalent photoreactive Ru^II-calix[4]arene complex bearing RGD-containing cyclopentapeptides

• Sofia Kajouj,
• Lionel Marcelis,
• Alice Mattiuzzi,
• Adrien Grassin,
• Damien Dufour,
• Pierre Van Antwerpen,
• Didier Boturyn,
• Eric Defrancq,
• Mathieu Surin,
• Julien De Winter,
• Pascal Gerbaux,
• Ivan Jabin and
• Cécile Moucheron

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1758–1768, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.150

• is also faced by complexes anchored on cell-penetrating peptides. In order to provide a selective cell targeting, we developed a multivalent system composed of a photoreactive ruthenium(II) complex tethered to a calix[4]arene platform bearing multiple RGD-containing cyclopentapeptides. Extensive

• reactive-oxygen-species-dependent apoptosis. Another strategy for the design of cell penetrating photoreactive RuII complexes consists of tethering the complex to a vector that allows a cellular uptake. In this context, OsII, RhIII and RuII complexes were anchored to cell penetrating peptides (CPP) such as

• the Ru complex and the cyclic peptides by the calixarene should be an advantage by preventing any negative effect of the RGD peptidic units on the photochemistry of the complex and, alternatively, prevents any influence of the complex on the affinity of the RGD patterns to interact with the targeted

Design, synthesis and structure of novel G-2 melamine-based dendrimers incorporating 4-(n-octyloxy)aniline as a peripheral unit

• Cristina Morar,
• Pedro Lameiras,
• Attila Bende,
• Gabriel Katona,
• Emese Gál and
• Mircea Darabantu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1704–1722, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.145

• s-triazine units (branch-cells, T-0 or cores T-2, Scheme 3 and Scheme 4). According to H. Kessler (in 1982, [62]), this parameter is appropriate for describing amide protons solvation in p→π conjugated systems, such as –N(H)–C(=O)– ↔ –N+(H)=C(–O−)– in peptides and proteins, in water. Later on (in

Natural and redesigned wasp venom peptides with selective antitumoral activity

• Marcelo D. T. Torres,
• Gislaine P. Andrade,
• Roseli H. Sato,
• Cibele N. Pedron,
• Tania M. Manieri,
• Giselle Cerchiaro,
• Anderson O. Ribeiro,
• Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez and
• Vani X. Oliveira Jr.

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1693–1703, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.144

• membranes increased significantly when treated with lead peptides compared to controls. Biophysical features such as helicity, hydrophobicity, and net positive charge were identified to play an important role in the anticancer activity of the peptides. Indeed, abrupt changes in peptide hydrophobicity and

• conformational propensity led to peptide inactivation, whereas increasing the net positive charge of peptides enhanced their activity. We present peptide templates with selective activity towards breast cancer cells that leave normal cells unaffected. These templates represent excellent scaffolds for the design

• of selective anticancer peptide therapeutics. Keywords: breast cancer; decoralin; MCF-7 cells; peptide design; selective anticancer peptides; structure–activity relationships; Introduction Approximately 12% of U.S. women develop breast cancer according to the U.S. Breast Cancer website (http

β-Hydroxy sulfides and their syntheses

• Mokgethwa B. Marakalala,
• Edwin M. Mmutlane and
• Henok H. Kinfe

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1668–1692, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.143

• 80 °C, xylene; (3) TFA, CH2Cl2, followed by HPLC separation of 7 and 126. Synthesis of peptides containing a β-hydroxy sulfide moiety. Synthesis of diltiazem (12) using biocatalytic resolution of an epoxide followed by thiolysis. Acknowledgements This review was made possible by funding provided by

Drug targeting to decrease cardiotoxicity – determination of the cytotoxic effect of GnRH-based conjugates containing doxorubicin, daunorubicin and methotrexate on human cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells

• Livia Polgár,
• Eszter Lajkó,
• Pál Soós,
• Orsolya Láng,
• Marilena Manea,
• Béla Merkely,
• Gábor Mező and
• László Kőhidai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1583–1594, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.136

• potentially increases the tumor selectivity of drugs and decreases their cardiotoxicity. Increased expression of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptors on the surface of tumor cells has been reported. Thus, the attachment of the aforementioned chemotherapeutic drugs to GnRH-based peptides may result

• . Small peptides that recognize target receptors on tumor cells might be suitable targeting moieties for this purpose. Hormone peptides, in particular, GnRH and somatostatin derivatives that possess antiproliferative effect on their own, are among the best candidates as homing peptides [10]. A.V. Schally

• used for amide bond formation. The difference between Dox and Dau is the lack of the primary OH group in the case of the latter one. Therefore, Dau cannot be attached to peptide carriers via an ester bond. Mtx contains a glutamic acid whose carboxyl groups are suitable for the attachment to peptides

Design and biological characterization of novel cell-penetrating peptides preferentially targeting cell nuclei and subnuclear regions

• Anja Gronewold,
• Mareike Horn and
• Ines Neundorf

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1378–1388, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.116

• Anja Gronewold Mareike Horn Ines Neundorf Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, University of Cologne, Zuelpicher Str. 47a, 50674 Cologne, Germany 10.3762/bjoc.14.116 Abstract Within this study, we report about the design and biological characterization of novel cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs

• peptides, N50-sC18* and NrTP-sC18*, and found that they are nontoxic up to a concentration of 50 or 100 µM depending on the cell lines used. Moreover, detailed cellular uptake studies revealed that both peptides enter cells via energy-independent uptake, although endocytotic processes cannot completely

• excluded. However, initial drug delivery studies demonstrated the high versatility of these new peptides as efficient transport vectors targeting specifically nuclei and nucleoli. In future, they could be further explored as parts of newly created peptide–drug conjugates. Keywords: anticancer drugs; cell

Oligonucleotide analogues with cationic backbone linkages

• Melissa Meng and
• Christian Ducho

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1293–1308, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.111

• aspired improvement of cellular uptake, fully cationic oligonucleotide analogues might also be attractive candidate structures, as indicated by the advantageous properties of cationic cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) [38]. However, the design of modifications of type 1–6 precludes the preparation of fully

Recyclable hypervalent-iodine-mediated solid-phase peptide synthesis and cyclic peptide synthesis

• Dan Liu,
• Ya-Li Guo,
• Jin Qu and
• Chi Zhang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1112–1119, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.97

• ) reagent FPID and (4-MeOC6H4)3P was successfully applied to solid-phase peptide synthesis and cyclic peptide synthesis. Four peptides with biological activities were synthesized through SPPS and the bioactive cyclic heptapeptide pseudostellarin D was obtained via solution-phase peptide synthesis. It is

• , and it plays a crucial role in the elaboration and composition of biological systems. Amide bonds are widely present not only in peptides and proteins but also in pharmaceuticals and many natural products. Among the methods for amide bond formation, the direct condensation of carboxylic acids and

• test whether the FPID/(4-MeOC6H4)3P system can be used in SPPS. We selected the commercially available 2-chlorotrityl chloride resin (2-Cl-Trt-Cl resin) as the solid support and [(9-fluorenylmethyl)oxy]carbonyl (Fmoc) as the α-amino protecting group. The peptides were synthesized following the route as

Preparation, structure, and reactivity of bicyclic benziodazole: a new hypervalent iodine heterocycle

• Akira Yoshimura,
• Michael T. Shea,
• Cody L. Makitalo,
• Melissa E. Jarvi,
• Gregory T. Rohde,
• Akio Saito,
• Mekhman S. Yusubov and
• Viktor V. Zhdankin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1016–1020, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.87

• and peptides [23][24][25]. Numerous examples of five-membered hypervalent iodine(III) heterocycles containing other than oxygen heteroatoms, such as sulfur [26], boron [27][28], phosphorous [29], or nitrogen [30][31][32], have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography. In particular

On the design principles of peptide–drug conjugates for targeted drug delivery to the malignant tumor site

• Eirinaios I. Vrettos,
• Gábor Mező and
• Andreas G. Tzakos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 930–954, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.80

• throughout this review. Among the most intriguing navigating delivery systems that can combine the transporting vehicle and the navigating/targeting moiety in a single module are the tumor-homing peptides [32]. These peptides are exploited to assemble the peptide–drug conjugates (PDCs) which are considered

• attention since peptides can be easily produced in large quantities and their purification is simple. Moreover, an array of different tumor-targeting peptides has been discovered [32] for multifarious types of cancer. This bountiful palette can permit the construction of personalized cancer therapeutics

• generate the PDCs There is an immense variety of peptides (linear or cyclic) that have been exploited as carriers/targeting elements to successfully deliver the cytotoxic warhead to cancer cells [32]. These peptides are cell-specific and bind to certain receptors promoting their internalization. They are

Development of novel cyclic NGR peptide–daunomycin conjugates with dual targeting property

• Andrea Angelo Pierluigi Tripodi,
• Szilárd Tóth,
• Kata Nóra Enyedi,
• Gitta Schlosser,
• Gergely Szakács and
• Gábor Mező

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 911–918, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.78

• Vienna, Austria 10.3762/bjoc.14.78 Abstract Cyclic NGR peptides as homing devices are good candidates for the development of drug conjugates for targeted tumor therapy. In our previous study we reported that the Dau=Aoa-GFLGK(c[KNGRE]-GG-)-NH2 conjugate has a significant antitumor activity against both

• release; NGR peptides; oxime-linkage; targeted drug delivery; Introduction Targeted chemotherapy is one of the most promising approaches for selective cancer treatment that may decrease the toxic side effects of anticancer drugs. This therapeutic approach is based on the fact that tumor specific

• receptors are highly expressed on cancer cells/tissues. NGR (Asn-Gly-Arg) motif-containing peptides identified by phage display are suitable candidates for selective drug delivery. NGR peptides bind to CD13-receptors on tumor cells and tumor related angiogenic blood vessels [1][2]. CD13 is a transmembrane

Synthesis and in vitro biochemical evaluation of oxime bond-linked daunorubicin–GnRH-III conjugates developed for targeted drug delivery

• Sabine Schuster,
• Beáta Biri-Kovács,
• Bálint Szeder,
• Viktor Farkas,
• László Buday,
• Zsuzsanna Szabó,
• Gábor Halmos and
• Gábor Mező

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 756–771, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.64

• receptors (GnRH-R) [1]. Therefore, these peptides are suitable for specific drug targeting to tumor cells. The native ligand of this receptor is GnRH-I (

• , 9Pro-EA] and triporelin [6D-Trp], which are used as pharmaceutical peptides to treat inter alia hormone dependent prostate and/or breast cancer [7]. Since the mid-1980s cytotoxic GnRH-I derivatives were developed and investigated to treat tumor cells [4][5][8][9]. Anthracyclines such as doxorubicin

• pathway. To gain further information about sequence–activity relationship of GnRH-III, we studied the impact of 6Asp on the efficiency of tumor targeting. Since it is known from the literature that an incorporation of D-amino acids (D-Aaa) in position 6 of GnRH-I and II peptides can lead to an improved

Enzyme-free genetic copying of DNA and RNA sequences

• Marilyne Sosson and
• Clemens Richert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 603–617, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.47

• sequence long enough to hybridize stably to complementary strands were formed. Such strands may then be the templates or primers required to start enzyme-free copying. Further, the general condensation buffer noted above gave rise to the spontaneous formation of ribonucleotide- or RNA-linked peptides [64

• ]. These peptides are linked via their N-terminus to the ribonucleotide portion as phosphoramidates, which is why we refer to them as "peptido RNAs". Peptide chain growth on the 5'-phosphate is much faster than the background reaction [65], and will thus predominate over background oligomerization of amino

• considered a prebiotically relevant activating agent [67], and it has previously been used in experiments aimed at generating peptides in the absence of enzymes or a ribosomal machinery [68]. Reactions with cyanamide are much less efficient than with EDC, so that successful primer extension has not yet been

Mannich base-connected syntheses mediated by ortho-quinone methides

• Petra Barta,
• Ferenc Fülöp and
• István Szatmári

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 560–575, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.43

• were also formed in around 90% yields under microwave irradiation (Scheme 7). Miscellaneous reactions It is also known that o-QMs could cross-link two biologically important molecules such as peptides, proteins or nucleic bases. (see section Biological properties) Achieving the reaction under

Stimuli-responsive oligonucleotides in prodrug-based approaches for gene silencing

• Françoise Debart,
• Christelle Dupouy and
• Jean-Jacques Vasseur

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 436–469, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.32

• facilitate their uptake, a TAT-peptide delivery domain was conjugated to the siRNNs via A-SATE phosphotriester groups. Hence, a chimeric passenger strand containing four A-SATE phosphotriesters duplexed with an RNN guide strand was conjugated to the delivery domain TAT peptides. The resulting conjugates

• possessing only ≈25% of neutralized phosphates and four TAT peptides were optimal to enter cells passively. Once inside the cells, the SATE groups were efficiently removed by esterases, leading to siRNAs that are induced according to knockdown with apparent EC50 values in the low nanomolar range and in a

Synthesis and biological evaluation of RGD and isoDGR peptidomimetic-α-amanitin conjugates for tumor-targeting

• Lizeth Bodero,
• Paula López Rivas,
• Barbara Korsak,
• Torsten Hechler,
• Andreas Pahl,
• Christoph Müller,
• Daniela Arosio,
• Luca Pignataro,
• Cesare Gennari and
• Umberto Piarulli

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 407–415, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.29

• synthetic peptides or peptidomimetics containing these sequences have been prepared and show low nanomolar IC50 values for integrin αVβ3 binding [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. A number of cyclic RGD and isoDGR ligands containing a bifunctional diketopiperazine (DKP) scaffold have been developed by the

Photocatalytic formation of carbon–sulfur bonds

• Alexander Wimmer and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 54–83, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.4

• aryl diazonium salts to give the corresponding diaryl sulfide in high yields. Very recently, Noël and co-workers applied the above-mentioned concepts for the selective arylation of cysteine and cysteine-containing peptides in batch as well as in a photomicroreactor (Scheme 18) [49]. They were able to

Aminosugar-based immunomodulator lipid A: synthetic approaches

• Alla Zamyatina

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 25–53, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.3

• integrity and antigen presentation, decreases susceptibility to antimicrobial peptides and enhances pathogenicity [25]. In some LPS, the lipid A phosphates are post-translationally modified by substitution with the compounds that reduce the net negative charge of LPS, such as phosphoethanolamine in E. coli

• peptides (CAMPs) and antibiotics [25][32][33][34]. Activation of the innate immune response by lipid A/LPS requires a consecutive interaction of lipid A with lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LPB) [35], glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored surface protein CD14 (a differentiation antigen of monocytes

Recent applications of click chemistry for the functionalization of gold nanoparticles and their conversion to glyco-gold nanoparticles

• Vivek Poonthiyil,
• Thisbe K. Lindhorst,
• Vladimir B. Golovko and
• Antony J. Fairbanks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 11–24, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.2

• types of carbohydrate–protein interactions, it is therefore essential to present carbohydrates in a multivalent fashion. For that purpose, different scaffolds, such as peptides, proteins, lipids, and synthetic polymers, have all been used [7]. The search for better scaffolds for the presentation of

• system was then used for the detection of amyloid-β peptides [74], whose aggregation is responsible for Alzheimer’s disease [75]. In 2014, Fairbanks and co-workers reported a one-pot aqueous compatible method for making various triazole-linked glycoconjugates via intermediate glycosyl azides, which then

Halogen-containing thiazole orange analogues – new fluorogenic DNA stains

• Aleksey A. Vasilev,
• Meglena I. Kandinska,
• Stanimir S. Stoyanov,
• Stanislava B. Yordanova,
• David Sucunza,
• Juan J. Vaquero,
• Obis D. Castaño,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Silvia E. Angelova

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2902–2914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.283

• been conjugated to a variety of molecules, including peptides [29], proteins [30], DNA [17], and DNA analogues such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA) [16][31]. TO-based chromophores assembled as a structural scaffold inside nucleic acids (TO-tethered nucleic acids) have attracted considerable attention [32

Position-dependent impact of hexafluoroleucine and trifluoroisoleucine on protease digestion

• Susanne Huhmann,
• Anne-Katrin Stegemann,
• Kristin Folmert,
• Damian Klemczak,
• Johann Moschner,
• Michelle Kube and
• Beate Koksch

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2869–2882, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.279

• of peptides as therapeutics. One strategy to increase the proteolytic stability of peptides is the modification with fluorinated amino acids. This study presents a systematic investigation of the effects of fluorinated leucine and isoleucine derivatives on the proteolytic stability of a peptide that

• was designed to comprise substrate specificities of different proteases. Therefore, leucine, isoleucine, and their side-chain fluorinated variants were site-specifically incorporated at different positions of this peptide resulting in a library of 13 distinct peptides. The stability of these peptides

• . The opposite phenomenon was observed in other cases, and this may be explained by specific interactions of fluorinated residues with the respective enzyme binding sites. Noteworthy is that 5,5,5-trifluoroisoleucine is able to significantly protect peptides from proteolysis by all enzymes included in

The use of 4,4,4-trifluorothreonine to stabilize extended peptide structures and mimic β-strands

• Yaochun Xu,
• Isabelle Correia,
• Tap Ha-Duong,
• Nadjib Kihal,
• Jean-Louis Soulier,
• Julia Kaffy,
• Benoît Crousse,
• Olivier Lequin and
• Sandrine Ongeri

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2842–2853, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.276

• drugs contain fluorine atoms or fluoroalkyl groups, representing 150 fluorinated molecules, and this trend is expected to increase to about 30% in the early future as a new generation of fluorinated compounds is currently in Phase II−III clinical trials [1]. In parallel, pharmaceutical peptides are

• attracting increasing interest as around 100 peptides are on the pharmaceutical market [2]. Peptide fluorination has appeared as a general and effective strategy to enhance the stability against enzymatic, chemical and thermal denaturation while generally retaining the original structure and biological

• activity [3][4]. Fluorinated amino acids can also be used as powerful 19F NMR probes for the study of protein–ligand interactions and enzymatic activities [5][6][7][8]. However, the development of fluorinated peptides as drug candidates seems to be largely under-exploited. Investigation on the influence of