Paulo M.C. Glória

Cell death targets and potential modulators in Alzheimer’s disease

Apoptosis is now recognized as a normal feature in the development of the nervous system and may also play a role in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimers disease. Cell surface receptors, caspases, mitochondrial factors or p53 participate in the modulation and execution of cell death. Therefore, the ability to understand and manipulate the cell death machinery is an obvious goal of medical research. Potential therapeutic approaches to modulate disease by regulating apoptosis are being tested, and include the traditional use of small molecules to target specific players in the apoptosis cascade. As our understanding of apoptosis increases, further opportunities will arise for more specific therapies that will result in improved efficacy. This review focuses on molecular mechanisms of apoptosis in Alzheimers disease and highlights the potential use of small molecule modulators to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

Synthesis and evaluation of vinyl sulfones as caspase-3 inhibitors. A structure-activity study

The first structure-activity relationship study of vinyl sulfones as caspase-3 inhibitors is reported. A series of 12 vinyl sulfones was synthesized and evaluated for two downstream caspases (caspases-3 and -7). Dipeptidyl derivatives were significantly superior to their counterparts containing only Asp at P(1), as caspase-3 inhibitors. Fmoc-Val-Asp-trans-CH=CH-SO(2)Me was the most potent inhibitor of caspase-3 in the series, with a IC(50) of 29 microM and a second-order rate constant of inactivation, k(inact)/K(i), of 1.5 M(-1) s(-1). Computational studies suggest that the second amino acid occupies position S(3) of the enzyme. In addition, Fmoc-Val-Asp-trans-CH=CH-SO(2)Ph was inactive for caspase-7 for the tested concentrations.

Aspartic vinyl sulfones: inhibitors of a caspase-3-dependent pathway

In this article we describe an expanded structure-activity relationship study for vinyl sulfones as caspase-3 inhibitors, a topic virtually unexplored in the existing literature. Most remarkably, and to our surprise, tripeptidyl vinyl sulfones were not active for caspase-3, opposite to other examples described in literature for peptidyl vinyl sulfones as potent cysteine protease inhibitors of clan CA. Moreover, the caspase-3 inhibitory activity of vinyl sulfones using an in vitro assay was then confirmed using a yeast cell-based assay. The results show that Fmoc-protected vinyl sulfones containing only the Asp moiety are inhibitors of a caspase-3-dependent pathway and the IC50 values obtained in the yeast assay are in the same order of magnitude of that obtained with the caspase-3 inhibitor tetrapeptidyl chloromethyl ketone, Ac-DEVD-CMK. This observation is consistent with appropriate cell permeability properties displayed by the vinyl sulfone inhibitors, as reflected by logP values ranging from 1.1 to 3.4. Overall, these results suggest that vinyl sulfones containing Asp at P1 should be considered for further optimization as caspase inhibitors and modulators of caspase-3-dependent pathways.

Squaric acid: a valuable scaffold for developing antimalarials?

We describe here the synthesis of a library of thirty-eight squaric derivatives and the evaluation of activity against papain-, falcipain-2- and a chloroquine-resistant strain of P. falciparum. The most active compounds combine significant antiplasmodial activity with minimal cytotoxicity.

Aza vinyl sulfones: synthesis and evaluation as antiplasmodial agents.

A series of novel aza vinyl sulfones were designed, synthesized in good yields and evaluated as antiplasmodial agents. Tested compounds did not show activity against papain or the Plasmodium falciparum cysteine protease falcipain-2. However, a number of the new compounds effectively inhibited the in vitro development of P. falciparum. Compounds containing a squaramide group were the most active, with IC(50) values between 0.95 and 4.5 μM, suggesting that these are potential lead compounds for the development of new antimalarial agents.

N-heteroatom substitution effect in 3-aza-cope rearrangements

BackgroundThe nature of the heteroatom substitution in the nitrogen of a 3-aza-Cope system is explored.ResultsWhile N-propargyl isoxazolin-5-ones suffer 3-aza-Cope rearrangements at 60°C, the corresponding N-propargyl pyrazol-5-ones need a higher temperature of 180°C for the equivalent reaction. When the propargyl group is substituted by an allyl group, the temperature of the rearrangement for both type of compounds is less affected by the nature of the heteroatom present. Treatment with a base, such as ethoxide, facilitates the rearrangement, and in the case of isoxazol-5- ones other ring opening reactions take precedence, involving N–O ring cleavage of the 5-membered ring. However when base-catalysed decomposition is prevented by substituents, products arising from a room temperature aza-Cope rearrangement are isolated. A possible mechanistic pathway based on free energies derived from density functional calculations involving cyclic intermediates is proposed.ConclusionsThe nature of the heteroatom substitution in the nitrogen of a 3-aza-Cope system leads to a remarkable difference in the energy of activation of the reaction.

Studies in 3-oxy-assisted 3-aza Cope rearrangements

On thermolysis appropriately substituted N-silyloxy-N-allyl enamines undergo smooth 3,3-sigmatropic rearrangments to the corresponding N-silyloxy imino ethers.