Maria Moccia

Catalytic Enantioselective Addition of Sodium Bisulfite to Chalcones

Dr. F. Fini, M. Scagnetti, Prof. M. F. A. AdamoCentre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology (CSCB)Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal ChemistryRoyal College of Surgeons in Ireland123 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2 (Ireland)Fax: ( +353)1-402-2168E-mail: madamo@rcsi.ieHomepage: https://research1.rcsi.ie/pi/madamo/[

Synthesis of a l-lysine-based alternate alpha,epsilon-peptide: A novel linear polycation with nucleic acids-binding ability

A novel nucleic acid compaction device based on a positively-charged alpha,epsilon-poly-l-lysine was realized for the first time. The polycationic peptide was obtained by assembling Fmoc and Boc orthogonally protected l-lysine monomers by solid phase synthesis. The route to the novel polycation is very fast and convenient because it allows for the obtainment of the desired product in few synthetic steps exclusively employing Fmoc chemistry. The purification of the poly-amino acid was performed easily by RP-HPLC on C18 stationary phase while ESI-MS analysis confirmed the identity of the novel basic molecule. The structural characteristics of the novel water-soluble peptide, as well as the interaction with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) have been investigated by circular dichroism (CD) and ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy.

Insights on chiral, backbone modified peptide nucleic acids: Properties and biological activity

PNAs are emerging as useful synthetic devices targeting natural miRNAs. In particular 3 classes of structurally modified PNAs analogs are herein described, namely α, β and γ, which differ by their backbone modification. Their mode and binding affinity for natural nucleic acids and their use in medicinal chemistry as potential miRNA binders is discussed.