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Synthesis of Potential Bioactives

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioorganic Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 1434

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Weinberg 3, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
Interests: bioorganic chemistry; natural product chemistry; multi-component diversification of bioactives

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Guest Editor
Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Av. Roraima 1000, Santa Maria 97105-900, RS, Brazil
Interests: synthetic chemistry; organochalcogenium chemistry; medicinal chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

In the past two decades, the emergence of new pathogenic strains of viruses including SARS-CoV-2 along with drug resistance to numerous drugs has presented challenges that require urgent response. Targeted therapy of cancer is another unresolved problem. Finding a new compound via synthetic methodologies, enzymatic synthesis or biotransformation is an important step in the development of new drugs. To address these important issues related to drug discovery, numerous intriguing synthetic methodologies need to be established in order to enable the efficient assembly of new molecules and studying structure–activity relationships. This Special Issue welcomes original articles, communications and reviews dealing with the synthesis of bioactive compounds and synthesis (including enzymatic) of natural product derivatives. In addition, this issue also welcome articles related to investigation of mechanisms of bioactive compounds for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, microbial diseases, cardiovascular diseases and other human diseases.

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Westermann
Prof. Dr. Hidayat Hussain
Dr. Oscar Endrigo Dorneles Rodrigues
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drug discovery
  • natural product derivatives
  • bioactive synthetic compounds
  • enzymatic synthesis
  • cancer
  • infectious diseases
  • microbial diseases
  • diabetes
  • cardiovascular diseases
  • human health
  • human diseases
  • computational methods
  • in vitro studies
  • in vivo studies
  • mechanism of action
  • target identification

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2594 KiB  
Article
Antiviral Effect of 5′-Arylchalcogeno-3-aminothymidine Derivatives in SARS-CoV-2 Infection
by Amanda Resende Tucci, Raquel Mello da Rosa, Alice Santos Rosa, Otávio Augusto Chaves, Vivian Neuza Santos Ferreira, Thamara Kelcya Fonseca Oliveira, Daniel Dias Coutinho Souza, Nathalia Roberto Resende Borba, Luciano Dornelles, Nayra Salazar Rocha, João Candido Pilar Mayer, João B. Teixeira da Rocha, Oscar Endrigo D. Rodrigues and Milene Dias Miranda
Molecules 2023, 28(18), 6696; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28186696 - 19 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1094
Abstract
The understanding that zidovudine (ZDV or azidothymidine, AZT) inhibits the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2 and that chalcogen atoms can increase the bioactivity and reduce the toxicity of AZT has directed our search for the discovery of novel potential anti-coronavirus compounds. Here, [...] Read more.
The understanding that zidovudine (ZDV or azidothymidine, AZT) inhibits the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2 and that chalcogen atoms can increase the bioactivity and reduce the toxicity of AZT has directed our search for the discovery of novel potential anti-coronavirus compounds. Here, the antiviral activity of selenium and tellurium containing AZT derivatives in human type II pneumocytes cell model (Calu-3) and monkey kidney cells (Vero E6) infected with SARS-CoV-2, and their toxic effects on these cells, was evaluated. Cell viability analysis revealed that organoselenium (R3aR3e) showed lower cytotoxicity than organotellurium (R3f, R3nR3q), with CC50 ≥ 100 µM. The R3b and R3e were particularly noteworthy for inhibiting viral replication in both cell models and showed better selectivity index. In Vero E6, the EC50 values for R3b and R3e were 2.97 ± 0.62 µM and 1.99 ± 0.42 µM, respectively, while in Calu-3, concentrations of 3.82 ± 1.42 µM and 1.92 ± 0.43 µM (24 h treatment) and 1.33 ± 0.35 µM and 2.31 ± 0.54 µM (48 h) were observed, respectively. The molecular docking calculations were carried out to main protease (Mpro), papain-like protease (PLpro), and RdRp following non-competitive, competitive, and allosteric inhibitory approaches. The in silico results suggested that the organoselenium is a potential non-competitive inhibitor of RdRp, interacting in the allosteric cavity located in the palm region. Overall, the cell-based results indicated that the chalcogen-zidovudine derivatives were more potent than AZT in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 replication and that the compounds R3b and R3e play an important inhibitory role, expanding the knowledge about the promising therapeutic capacity of organoselenium against COVID-19. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis of Potential Bioactives)
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