The 20th Anniversary of Pharmaceuticals—New Insights in Medicinal Chemistry of Nitrogen-Containing Compounds

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 February 2025 | Viewed by 3507

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Interests: rational drug design; small heterocyclic compounds; enzyme inhibitors; hybrid compounds; nucleoside analogues; ageing-related diseases

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Interests: nucleoside analogues; lysosomal storage diseases; heterocyclic compounds; drug synthesis; drug design; enzyme inhibition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nitrogen atoms are very important elements in life. Together with carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, they are part of essential biomolecules, such as nucleic acids, proteins, enzymes, vitamins, hormones, and numerous secondary metabolites of both animal and plant kingdoms.

Nitrogen-containing scaffolds of acyclic or cyclic structure have made valuable contributions to medicinal chemistry, providing a rich diversity source for drug design. Its ability to display a moldable acid–base behavior and establish diverse supramolecular interactions, including electrostatic forces, conventional and unconventional hydrogen interactions, van der Waals and hydrophobic bonds, or even π-π interactions, allows them to bind to a wide variety of drug targets.

Among nitrogen-based frameworks, it is noteworthy that heterocyclic systems are the most prevalent for the design of pharmacophores due to their heterogeneous structure and biological significance. Azoles, azines, and azepines of monocyclic or bicyclic structure are currently recognized as indispensable building blocks for the development of novel therapeutic agents with a wide spectrum of biological effects. These ring systems are present in many FDA-approved drugs which are effective for the treatment of several diseases.

In addition, nitrogen derivatives such as urea, thiourea, guanidine, sulphonamide, propargylamine, and nitro-containing compounds are also acknowledged as privileged structural motifs in medicinal and synthetic chemistry. Other nitrogen functional groups which have recently emerged as unconventional pharmacophores include isocyanides and sulfoximines, which are two strategic moieties used for drug design purposes because of their interesting properties (including favorable physicochemical and metabolic behavior as well as good metal coordinative abilities, i.e., features associated with biological effects).  

This Special Issue of the journal Pharmaceuticals is devoted to new insights centered around the medicinal chemistry of nitrogen-containing compounds and invites both research papers and reviews on the use of acyclic and cyclic nitrogen scaffolds in drug design and development. This Special Issue aims to check the state of the art and describe the latest advances and the future prospects on this topic.

Prof. Dr. María del Carmen Terán Moldes
Prof. Dr. Pedro Besada Pereira
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. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2900 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 design
  • synthesis
  • nitrogen heterocycles
  • nitrogen functional groups
  • biological activity
  • structure-activity relationship
  • molecular modeling

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

25 pages, 6006 KiB  
Article
Thiophene-Linked 1,2,4-Triazoles: Synthesis, Structural Insights and Antimicrobial and Chemotherapeutic Profiles
by Nada A. El-Emam, Mahmoud B. El-Ashmawy, Ahmed A. B. Mohamed, El-Sayed E. Habib, Subbiah Thamotharan, Mohammed S. M. Abdelbaky, Santiago Garcia-Granda and Mohamed A. A. Moustafa
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(9), 1123; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17091123 - 25 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1508
Abstract
The reaction of thiophene-2-carbohydrazide 1 or 5-bromothiophene-2-carbohydrazide 2 with various haloaryl isothiocyanates and subsequent cyclization by heating in aqueous sodium hydroxide yielded the corresponding 4-haloaryl-5-(thiophen-2-yl or 5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thione 5a-e. The triazole derivatives 5a and 5b were reacted with different [...] Read more.
The reaction of thiophene-2-carbohydrazide 1 or 5-bromothiophene-2-carbohydrazide 2 with various haloaryl isothiocyanates and subsequent cyclization by heating in aqueous sodium hydroxide yielded the corresponding 4-haloaryl-5-(thiophen-2-yl or 5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thione 5a-e. The triazole derivatives 5a and 5b were reacted with different secondary amines and formaldehyde solution to yield the corresponding 2-aminomethyl-4-haloaryl-2,4-dihydro-3H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiones 6ae, 7ae, 8, 9, 10a and 10b in good yields. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of compounds 5ae, 6ae, 7ad, 8, 9, 10a and 10b was evaluated against a panel of standard pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. Compounds 5a, 5b, 5e, 5f, 6ae, 7ad, 8, 9, 10a and 10b showed marked activity, particularly against the tested Gram-positive bacteria and the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, and all the tested compounds were almost inactive against all the tested fungal strains. In addition, compounds 5e, 6ae, 7ad and 10a exhibited potent anti-proliferative activity, particularly against HepG-2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines (IC50 < 25 μM). A detailed structural insight study based on the single crystals of compounds 5a, 5b, 6a, 6d and 10a is also reported. Molecular docking studies of the highly active antibacterial compounds 5e, 6b, 6d, 7a and 7d showed a high affinity for DNA gyrase. Meanwhile, the potent anti-proliferative activity of compounds 6d, 6e and 7d may be attributed to their high affinity for cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2). Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 5486 KiB  
Article
N-(coumarin-3-yl)cinnamamide Promotes Immunomodulatory, Neuroprotective, and Lung Function-Preserving Effects during Severe Malaria
by Paulo Gaio, Allysson Cramer, Natália Fernanda de Melo Oliveira, Samuel Porto, Lucas Kramer, Rayane Aparecida Nonato Rabelo, Rafaela das Dores Pereira, Laura Lis de Oliveira Santos, César Luís Nascimento Barbosa, Fabrício Marcus Silva Oliveira, Mauro Martins Teixeira, Remo Castro Russo, Maria João Matos and Fabiana Simão Machado
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(1), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17010046 - 27 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1608
Abstract
Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) infection in mice resembles several aspects of severe malaria in humans, such as cerebral malaria and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Herein, the effects of N-(coumarin-3-yl)cinnamamide (M220) against severe experimental malaria have been investigated. Treatment with M220 proved to [...] Read more.
Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) infection in mice resembles several aspects of severe malaria in humans, such as cerebral malaria and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Herein, the effects of N-(coumarin-3-yl)cinnamamide (M220) against severe experimental malaria have been investigated. Treatment with M220 proved to protect cognitive abilities and lung function in PbA-infected mice, observed by an object recognition test and spirometry, respectively. In addition, treated mice demonstrated decreased levels of brain and lung inflammation. The production and accumulation of microglia, and immune cells that produce the inflammatory cytokines TNF and IFN-γ, decreased, while the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 by innate and adaptive immune cells was enhanced. Treatment with M220 promotes immunomodulatory, neuroprotective, and lung function-preserving effects during experimental severe malaria. Therefore, it may be an interesting therapeutic candidate to treat severe malaria effects. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop