Carbonylative synthesis and functionalization of indoles

• Alex De Salvo,
• Raffaella Mancuso and
• Xiao-Feng Wu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 973–1000, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.87

• ][4]. The indole core is particularly noteworthy for its role in various biologically active compounds and drugs, such as antihypertensives, anti-inflammatories, antimycotics, antimigrants, anticancer drugs, and many others [5][6][7]. The first synthesis of indole has been introduced by Fischer in

Synthesis and properties of 6-alkynyl-5-aryluracils

• Ruben Manuel Figueira de Abreu,
• Till Brockmann,
• Alexander Villinger,
• Peter Ehlers and
• Peter Langer

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 898–911, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.80

• anticarcinogenic studies followed in 1953 [7][8]. Since then, uracil has played an important role in the development of antiviral and anticarcinogenic agents against various targets [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. 5-Fluorouracil is one of the best-known anticancer drugs and is used to treat a variety of cancers

Chemical and biosynthetic potential of Penicillium shentong XL-F41

• Ran Zou,
• Xin Li,
• Xiaochen Chen,
• Yue-Wei Guo and
• Baofu Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 597–606, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.52

• , and anticancer properties [6][7]. Historically, most alkaloids were isolated from higher plants, with a significant number found in the Apocynaceae family. Notable examples such as vinblastine, vinorelbine, vincristine, and vindesine have gained prominence as effective anticancer drugs [6][7][8][9][10

Photoinduced in situ generation of DNA-targeting ligands: DNA-binding and DNA-photodamaging properties of benzo[c]quinolizinium ions

• Julika Schlosser,
• Olga Fedorova,
• Yuri Fedorov and
• Heiko Ihmels

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 101–117, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.11

• intercalators, and some currently applied anticancer drugs actually operate on the basis of intercalation [3]. Hence, several classes of compounds have been established, whose DNA-binding properties can be tailored and fine-tuned for that purpose, for example anthracyclines [5], indolocarbazoles [6], acridines

Dipeptide analogues of fluorinated aminophosphonic acid sodium salts as moderate competitive inhibitors of cathepsin C

• Karolina Wątroba,
• Małgorzata Pawełczak and
• Marcin Kaźmierczak

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 434–439, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.33

• in chemotherapies to support traditional anticancer drugs. Moreover, there is a growing interest in the topic of cathepsin C inhibition, which directly affects serine protease activity [5][6]. Inhibitors of cathepsin C can be cystatins that show activity against a large group of cysteine proteases [7

Insight into oral amphiphilic cyclodextrin nanoparticles for colorectal cancer: comprehensive mathematical model of drug release kinetic studies and antitumoral efficacy in 3D spheroid colon tumors

• Sedat Ünal,
• Gamze Varan,
• Juan M. Benito,
• Yeşim Aktaş and
• Erem Bilensoy

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 139–157, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.14

• mathematically by release kinetic modeling for the first time. The overall findings indicated that the strategy of orally targeting anticancer drugs such as CPT with positively charged poly-β-CD-C6 nanoparticles to colon tumors for local and/or systemic efficacy is a promising approach. Keywords: colorectal

• is possible, chemotherapeutic treatment is still one of the most researched approaches in terms of tumor recurrence and the progression of the disease. In CRC chemotherapy, the most common approach is mainly an intravenous administration of anticancer drugs such as camptothecin (CPT) analogs

• the physicochemical properties and poor bioavailability of many widely used anticancer drugs. Specifically in the treatment of CRC, since the colon is the most distant part of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the ability of oral delivery of anticancer drugs to reach the colon in a stable and effective

Combining the best of both worlds: radical-based divergent total synthesis

• Kyriaki Gennaiou,
• Antonios Kelesidis,
• Maria Kourgiantaki and
• Alexandros L. Zografos

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 1–26, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.1

• time, some members have been recognized as potent topoisomerase inhibitors and have been used as anticancer drugs [106]. To access the rich diversity of this class, Zhu’s group recently applied a Fukuzumi salt ([Mes–Acr–Me]BF4)-mediated photochemical oxidation of dicinnamyl ether derivative 225 in the

Synthesis of the biologically important dideuterium-labelled adenosine triphosphate analogue ApppI(d₂)

• Petri A. Turhanen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1466–1470, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.153

• already in clinical use as antiviral or anticancer drugs [2][5][6]. Bisphosphonates (BPs), the stable analogues of the natural pyrophosphate (Figure 1) found in cells, have been used for decades in the treatment of bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis [7][8]. BPs can be categorized by the chemical

On drug discovery against infectious diseases and academic medicinal chemistry contributions

• Yves L. Janin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 1355–1378, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.141

• chemistry culture caused by this lack of academic support. Indeed, virtual docking has yet to demonstrate that it was instrumental in preselecting a really successful hit out of chemical libraries and considering, for instance, anticancer drugs as potential antivirals is barely more relevant than assaying

Cholyl 1,3,4-oxadiazole hybrid compounds: design, synthesis and antimicrobial assessment

• Anas J. Rasras,
• Mohamed El-Naggar,
• Nesreen A. Safwat and
• Raed A. Al-Qawasmeh

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 631–638, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.63

• [27][28][29], and were used for ischemic stroke treatment [30], to decrease the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs [31], and as amphiphilic copolymers as artificial ionophores [32]. Result and Discussion The synthetic strategy for the synthesis of the desired compounds 4a–v commenced from commercially

Synthesis of a new water-soluble hexacarboxylated tribenzotriquinacene derivative and its competitive host–guest interaction for drug delivery

• Man-Ping Li,
• Nan Yang and
• Wen-Rong Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 539–548, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.56

• water-soluble hexacarboxylated tribenzotriquinacene derivative (TBTQ-CB6) was synthesized and used as a supramolecular drug carrier to load the model anticancer drugs dimethyl viologen (MV) and doxorubicin (DOX) via host–guest interactions. The drugs could be effectively released by spermine (SM), a

• , supramolecular chemotherapy has received considerable attention by utilizing a supramolecular strategy to decrease the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs to normal cells while preserving their cytotoxicity against cancer cells [11]. Supramolecular systems derived from macrocycles [12][13], such as calix[n]arenes

• (CXs), cyclodextrins (CDs), cucurbiturils (CBs), and pillararenes, are of particular interest because they can act as vehicles for anticancer drugs by either self-assembling into nanocarriers [14][15][16] or forming host–guest complexes with anticancer drugs [17][18][19][20]. Tribenzotriquinacene (TBTQ

Synthesis of 5-unsubstituted dihydropyrimidinone-4-carboxylates from deep eutectic mixtures

• Sangram Gore,
• Sundarababu Baskaran and
• Burkhard König

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 331–336, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.37

• inhibits the motor activity of mitotic kinesin Eg5 and is therefore considered as a lead for the development of anticancer drugs [16]. Of particular interest are 5-unsubstituted DHPMs [17], such as compounds 1 and 2, which possess neuronal sodium channel blockade activities (Figure 1). Other examples are

Ready access to 7,8-dihydroindolo[2,3-d][1]benzazepine-6(5H)-one scaffold and analogues via early-stage Fischer ring-closure reaction

• Irina Kuznetcova,
• Felix Bacher,
• Daniel Vegh,
• Hsiang-Yu Chuang and
• Vladimir B. Arion

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2022, 18, 143–151, doi:10.3762/bjoc.18.15

• designed and prepared [3], with the hope of developing more efficient anticancer drugs with either improved Cdk targeting or with a different mechanism of action [4][5]. The isomers B and D (Figure 1) are synthetic derivatives of paullones, in which either the lactam unit is shifted (B) or both the lactam

Synthetic strategies toward 1,3-oxathiolane nucleoside analogues

• Umesh P. Aher,
• Dhananjai Srivastava,
• Girij P. Singh and
• Jayashree B. S

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2680–2715, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.182

Post-functionalization of drug-loaded nanoparticles prepared by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) with mitochondria targeting ligands

• Janina-Miriam Noy,
• Fan Chen and
• Martina Stenzel

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2302–2314, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.148

• more structural investigations are required to elucidate this. Keywords: micelle; mitochondria; phosphorylcholine; PISA; polymerization-induced self-assembly; Introduction Targeting mitochondria is a promising strategy for the development of new anticancer drugs [1]. Among them, organoarsenical drugs

Chemical approaches to discover the full potential of peptide nucleic acids in biomedical applications

• Nikita Brodyagin,
• Martins Katkevics,
• Venubabu Kotikam,
• Christopher A. Ryan and
• Eriks Rozners

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 1641–1688, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.116

Effective microwave-assisted approach to 1,2,3-triazolobenzodiazepinones via tandem Ugi reaction/catalyst-free intramolecular azide–alkyne cycloaddition

• Maryna O. Mazur,
• Oleksii S. Zhelavskyi,
• Eugene M. Zviagin,
• Svitlana V. Shishkina,
• Vladimir I. Musatov,
• Maksim A. Kolosov,
• Elena H. Shvets,
• Anna Yu. Andryushchenko and
• Valentyn A. Chebanov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 678–687, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.57

• high anticonvulsant activity after tests in silico and in vivо [7]. Moreover, compounds C and D reveal high activity as casein kinase 2 (CK2) inhibitor and high antitumor activity which makes compounds to be promising anticancer drugs [8]. There are quite a few methods for the synthesis of the

Synthesis and physicochemical evaluation of fluorinated lipopeptide precursors of ligands for microbubble targeting

• Masayori Hagimori,
• Estefanía E. Mendoza-Ortega and
• Marie Pierre Krafft

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 511–518, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.45

• serine–glycine (SG)n segments rather than classical poly(oxyethylene) linkers between the lipid polar head and a targeting ligand were proposed for the liposome-mediated, selective delivery of anticancer drugs. Here, we report the synthesis of perfluoroalkylated lipopeptides (F-lipopeptides) bearing two

Metal-free nucleophilic trifluoromethylselenolation via an iodide-mediated umpolung reactivity of trifluoromethylselenotoluenesulfonate

• Kevin Grollier,
• Alexis Taponard,
• Arnaud De Zordo-Banliat,
• Emmanuel Magnier and
• Thierry Billard

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 3032–3037, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.252

• agrochemistry. Even if, to date, there are no CF3Se-containing pharmaceuticals registered [15], a recent work has demonstrated the promising development of trifluoromethylselenolated nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as potential anticancer drugs [34]. Over the last years, trifluoromethylselenolation

One-step route to tricyclic fused 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline systems via the Castagnoli–Cushman protocol

• Aleksandar Pashev,
• Nikola Burdzhiev and
• Elena Stanoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1456–1464, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.121

• IV inhibitor carmegliptin (2, DPP IV) with potential for the treatment of type-II diabetes [3][4]. A comparative study on novel classes of anticancer drugs identified benzo[a]quinolizines 3 and 4 (Figure 1) to be useful for a specific inhibition of heat shock response in cancer cells, which strongly

• enhances the treatment by sensitizing cancer cells to anticancer drugs [5]. The presence of such structural pattern has driven the development of various approaches for its obtaining – based either on isolation from naturally occurring sources or through multistep synthetic routes [6]. The pyrrolo[2,1-a

Recent synthesis of thietanes

• Jiaxi Xu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1357–1410, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.116

• (Taxotere®) both are anticancer drugs of the taxoid series. They inhibit cell growth through the interaction with microtubules. In order to study the structure–activity relationships, the D-ring-modified deoxythiataxoid 154a was synthesized. For this, the iodomethyloxirane derivative 152 was first treated

Fluorinated phenylalanines: synthesis and pharmaceutical applications

• Laila F. Awad and
• Mohammed Salah Ayoup

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1022–1050, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.91

• are nowadays incorporated into drug scaffolds of compounds either licensed or currently being studied in clinical trials. Categories I–V of fluorinated phenylalanines. Structures of PET radiotracers of 18FPhe derivatives. Structures of melfufen (179) and melphalan (180) anticancer drugs. Structure of

Reversible photoswitching of the DNA-binding properties of styrylquinolizinium derivatives through photochromic [2 + 2] cycloaddition and cycloreversion

• Sarah Kölsch,
• Heiko Ihmels,
• Jochen Mattay,
• Norbert Sewald and
• Brian O. Patrick

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 111–124, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.13

• structural changes of the nucleic acid. In turn, both of these processes interfere with biologically relevant recognition processes between DNA and enzymes, e.g., topoisomerase [10]. Therefore, many potential lead structures of chemotherapeutic anticancer drugs exhibit DNA-binding properties [1][2][3][4][5

Synthesis of a tubugi-1-toxin conjugate by a modulizable disulfide linker system with a neuropeptide Y analogue showing selectivity for hY1R-overexpressing tumor cells

• Rainer Kufka,
• Robert Rennert,
• Goran N. Kaluđerović,
• Lutz Weber,
• Wolfgang Richter and
• Ludger A. Wessjohann

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 96–105, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.11

• differential for tumor cells. Members of one prominent novel class of targeted anticancer drugs that has been developed over the last years are antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) [9][10][11]. Due to their high antibody-mediated target specificity, ADCs are designed for selective treatments of tumor cells with

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

• 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

• of sequences have been designed for addressing and delivering anticancer drugs to the nuclei and its subnuclear regions. Although several drugs might be delivered successfully inside a cell, they often fail since they are not able to reach their subcellular target. In order to circumvent adverse side

• described as beneficial tools in the creation of anticancer drugs [21]. Within this study, we aimed to design novel efficient cell-penetrating peptides that preferentially locate within cell nuclei and subnuclear regions. For this, we generated peptide chimera consisting of a shortened version of the