Noriyuki Hatae

Synthesis and antimalarial activity of calothrixins A and B, and their N-alkyl derivatives.

We synthesized calothrixin B using our developed biomimetic method and derived N-alkyl-calothrixins A and B. The in vitro antimalarial activity of the calothrixin derivatives, including calothrixins A and B, against the Plasmodium falciparum FCR-3 strain was evaluated. All test compounds exhibited antimalarial activity over a concentration range of 6.4×10(-6)-1.2×10(-7) M.

Effect of the orthoquinone moiety in 9,10-phenanthrenequinone on its ability to induce apoptosis in HCT-116 and HL-60 cells

9,10-Phenanthrenequinone (9,10-PQ) is one of the most abundant quinones among diesel exhaust particulates. Recent data have suggested that quinones induce apoptosis in immune, epithelial and tumor cells, leading to respirator illness; however, the mechanisms by which quinones induce apoptosis and the structure required for this remain unknown. We studied the antitumor activity of 9,10-PQ analogs against two human tumor cell lines, HCT-116 colon tumor cells and HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells. The loss of the cis-orthoquinone unit in 9,10-PQ abrogated its ability to induce apoptosis in the two tumor cell lines, and the LC50 values of these analogs were indicated over 10 μM. An analog of 9,10-PQ in which the biaryl unit had been deleted displayed a reduced ability to induce tumor cell apoptosis, while the analogs 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (9) and pyrene-4,5-dione (10), which also had modified biaryl units, exhibited increased tumor cell apoptotic activity. The cis-orthoquinone unit in 9,10-PQ was identified as essential for its ability to induce apoptosis in tumor cells, and its biaryl unit is also considered to influence orthoquinone-mediated apoptotic activity.

Antiproliferative activity of O4-benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids against HCT-116 and HL-60 tumor cells

The O4-benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids exhibit potent antiproliferative activity against cancer cells, which is derived from their ability to inhibit of topoisomerase I and II. It has been reported that in the alkaloids a cationic quaternary ammonium atom, which results in resonance effects between ring A and B, is necessary for increased antiproliferative activity. These findings indicate the role of their substituents at ring A on inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. In the present study, we systematically assessed the cytotoxic activities of naturally occurring alkaloids and their derivatives containing various ring A substituents against two tumor cell lines, HCT-116 colon tumor cells and HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells. Among the cationic iminium alkaloids, which displayed more potent activity than the corresponding neutral derivatives, and the 7,8-oxygenated benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids, chelerythrine and NK109, exhibited stronger antiproliferative activity than the 8,9- and 9,10-oxygenated alkaloids. The activity of cationic iminium alkaloids could be correlated with the bond lengths of their ring A substituents and the electrostatic potentials of their ammonium molecules by DFT calculation.

Antioxidant effects of the highly-substituted carbazole alkaloids and their related carbazoles.

Antioxidant activities of 3-oxygenated and 3,4-dioxygenated carbazole alkaloids and their related carbazoles were comprehensively evaluated. In all assay systems, the 3,8-dihydroxycarbazoles carbazomadurin A (2) and B (3), and their synthetic precursors 2a and 3a exhibited higher antioxidant activities than the 3-monohydroxycarbazoles carazostatin (1), and the synthetic precursors 4a and 4b of carquinostatin A (4). In particular, 2a and 3a exhibited strong scavenging activities due to the reducing ability of formyl group at the C-5 position of carbazoles. The results suggest that these compounds could serve as useful clues for designing and developing novel antioxidants.

Porphyrin molecular tweezers for fullerenes

Facing zinc bisporphyrins connected with diethanoanthracene and diethanonaphthacene (syn-1 and syn-2) are prepared by double [3+1] porphyrin synthesis of tripyrranedicarbaldehyde with syn-5,11-dimethoxy-4,6,10,12-tetrahydro-4,12;6,10-diethanoanthracene[2,3-c;7,8-c′]dipyrrole and syn-4,7,11,14- tetrahydro-4,14;7,11-diethanonaphthacene[2,3-c;8,9-c′]dipyrrole. These bisporphyrins contain large clefts with different sizes capable for complexation with fullerenes such as C60 and C70. These designed syn-oriented bisporphyrins serve as effective and selective molecular tweezers for C70. Binding affinity of the zinc bisporphyrins, namely, syn-1 and syn-2, towards C60 and C70 in solution is determined by employing UV-vis spectrophotometric technique. Values of binding constants (K) in toluene for the non-covalent complexes of syn-1 with C60 and C70 are estimated to be 3.1(4) × 104 and 5.0(2) × 105 M-1, respectively, and those of syn-2 with C60 and C70 are enumerated to be 2.1(4) × 104 and 1.70(13) × 105 M-1, respectively. Binding of C60 and C70 in the clefts of syn-1 and syn-2 is clearly demonstrated by the crystal structures of C60/syn-1, C70/syn-1, C60/syn-2, and C70/syn-2 complexes. In the crystal structures with C70, the directions of the long axis of C70 are found to be quite different: in the case of C70/syn-1 complex the axis lies perpendicularly to the line connecting two zinc atoms; however, for the C70/syn-2 complex, the axis occupies in-plane to the same line. Both the clefts of syn-1 and syn-2 are induced to fit the included fullerenes by domed out-of-plane distortion of porphyrin rings. Moreover, the bicyclo[2.2.2]octadiene moieties of syn-1 are widened by complexation with the fullerenes, while the same moieties of syn-2 are narrowed by the complexation. Therefore, syn-1 catches the fullerenes at the shallow part of the cleft. On the other hand, syn-2 catches the fullerenes at the bottom part of the cleft. NMR experiments of the complexes in THF-d8 also support these orientations even in solution.

Synthesis and cytotoxicity of pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole alkaloids against HCT-116 and HL-60 cells

Ellipticine, olivacine, and their five reduced natural variants were synthesized via a palladium-catalyzed tandem cyclization/cross-coupling reaction as the key step. In addition, a previously unknown conformer of janetine was obtained through conformational inversion of the D ring in janetine. Because there are few synthetic approaches for reduced natural variants, little is known about the biological activities of these compounds. Six synthetic natural alkaloids and five of their derivatives were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against HCT-116 and HL-60 cells. The activities of variants with the D-reduced ring or without the C(11)-Me group were lower than those of ellipticine. The conformer of guatambuine showed higher activities than guatambuine.