New base-altered adenosine analogues: Synthesis and affinity at adenosine A1 and A2A receptors

N⁶-Substituted adenosine analogues containing cyclic hydrazines or chiral hydroxy (ar)alkyl groups, designed to interact with the S2 and S3 receptor subregions, have been synthesized and their binding to the adenosine A₁ and A_2A receptors have been investigated. Examples of both types of compounds were found to exhibit highly selective binding (K_i in low nM range) to the rat A₁ receptor.     

Oxidative metabolism of some hydrazine derivatives by rat liver and lung tissue fractions

The enzyme systems in rat liver and lung responsible for the oxidative metabolism of hydrazine derivatives were studied to determine whether these enzymes, cytochrome P-450 and monoamine oxidase, were responsible for metabolically activating hydrazines to carcinogenic/toxic metabolites. Cytochrome P-450 preferentially oxidized the nitrogen to nitrogen bond of 1,2-disubstituted hydrazines and hydrazides, while monoamine oxidase oxidized the nitrogen to nitrogen bond of all the classes of hydrazine derivatives that were tested. Oxidation of the nitrogen to nitrogen bond led to the formation of stable azo intermediates in the case of 1,2-disubstituted hydrazines and to unstable monoazo (diazene) metabolites in the case of monosubstituted hydrazines and hydrazides. In addition, cytochrome P-450 preferentially oxidized the carbon to nitrogen bond of monoalkylhydrazines; this reaction resulted in the formation of aldehyde metabolites (via hydrazone intermediates). Monosubstituted hydrazines were shown to be potent, irreversible inhibitors of mitochondrial monoamine oxidase. In contrast, the 1,2-disubstituted hydrazines appeared to be good substrates for the monoamine oxidase and served as competitive inhibitors at high concentrations. There did not appear to be any monoamine oxidase isozyme (form A or B) specificity in the metabolism of either the 1,2-disubstituted hydrazines or the monoalkylhydrazines, ethyl- and n-propylhydrazine.     

Hydrazines as mutagens in a histidine-requiring auxotroph of Salmonella typhimurium.

Hydrazines have been found naturally in tobacco and mushrooms. Other hydrazines are used in industry, medicine, and agriculture. Although about 38 hydrazines are carcinogenic, few, if any, have been tested successfully in rapid bacterial mutagenesis assays. We have utilized a tester strain of Salmonella typhimurium (TA1530) in order to determine the mutagenic activity of a number of hydrazines and related compounds. This strain is thus shown to be effective as a tester organism for the facile detection of hydrazines as mutagens.     

Chiral crystallization of glutamic acid on self assembled films of cysteine

In this article, we describe the preparation and use of chiral surfaces derived from enantiomerically pure crystals of amino acids. For this purpose, we chose to employ a self-assembly process to grow nanoscale chiral films of (+)-L or (-)-D cysteine, onto gold surfaces. We utilized those chiral films as resolving auxiliaries in the crystallization of enantiomers from solutions. To demonstrate the chiral discriminating ability of the chiral surfaces in crystallization processes, we investigated the crystallization of rac-glutamic acid onto the chiral films. Our study demonstrates the potential application of chiral films to control chirality throughout crystallization, where one enantiomer crystallizes on the chiral surfaces with relatively high enantiomeric excess. In addition, crystallization of pure glutamic acid enantiomers, and its racemic compound on to chiral films resulted in crystal morphology modification with preferred crystal orientation, which assists in the interpretation of the ability of our chiral surfaces to function as chiral selectors.     

Gramicidin S: a peptide model for protein glycation and reversal of glycation using nucleophilic amines.

Nonenzymatic glycation of proteins has been implicated in various diabetic complications and age-related disorders. Proteins undergo glycation at the N-terminus or at the epsilon-amino group of lysine residues. Glycation of proteins proceeds through the stages of Schiff base formation, conversion to ketoamine product and advanced glycation end products. Gramicidin S, which has two ornithine residues, was used as a model system to study the various stages of glycation of proteins using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The proximity of two ornithine residues in the peptide favors the glycation reaction. Formation of advanced glycation end products and diglycation on ornithine residues in gramicidin S were observed. The formation of Schiff base adduct is reversible, whereas the Amadori rearrangement to the ketoamine product is irreversible. Nucleophilic amines and hydrazines can deglycate the Schiff base adduct of glucose with peptides and proteins. Hydroxylamine, isonicotinic acid hydrazide and aminoguanidine effectively removed glucose from the Schiff base adduct of gramicidin S. Hydroxylamine is more effective in deglycating the adduct compared with isonicotinic acid hydrazide and aminoguanidine. The observation that the hydrazines are effective in deglycating the Schiff base adduct even in the presence of high concentrations of glucose, may have a possible therapeutic application in preventing complications of diabetes mellitus. Hydrazines may be used to distinguish between the Schiff base and the ketoamine products formed at the initial stages of glycation.     

The separation of enantiomeric sugars by chromatographic methods

This paper has reviewed the number of chromatographic methods by which one may determine the absolute configuration of sugars. Both indirect methods (converting the enantiomeric pair into diastereomers) and direct methods (using chiral stationary phases) have been discussed. Resolving reagents for the indirect methods include chiral hydroxy compounds, chiral amines, and chiral thiols; with subsequent separation of the diastereomers either by gas-liquid chromatography or by high pressure liquid chromatography. Direct methods discussed have exclusively utilized chiral substitution of organopolysiloxane phases for the separation of enantiomeric sugars as volatile derivatives by gas-liquid chromatography.     

Mutagenic activity of nine N,N-disubstituted hydrazines in the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay.

The mutagenic activity of N,N-dimethyl-, N,N-diethyl-, N,N-dibutyl-, N,N-diisobutyl-, N,N-di(p-tolyl)-, N-ethyl-N-phenyl-, N,N-dibenzyl-, N,N-diphenyl- and N,N-diisopropylhydrazine was examined in the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay using the strains TA1535, TA1537, TA97, TA98, TA100, TA102 and TA1530. All nine hydrazines were mutagenic in at least one tester strain, although of borderline significance for some of the compounds. The mutagenic potencies of the hydrazines varied 2-3 orders of magnitude, from very weak to moderate mutagenic activity. In general, the addition of S9 resulted in a lowering of the mutagenic activity and a lowering of the toxic properties of the hydrazines. The test results were relatively difficult to evaluate due to toxic effects of many of the test compounds on the test bacteria which may have resulted in an underestimation of the mutagenic potencies of some of the compounds. The pattern of mutagenic activity of the hydrazines in the different tester strains indicates that more than one mechanism of action may be involved in the mutagenicity.     

Apple juice and red wine induced mirror-image circular dichroism in quantum dots

Juices, wines, and extracts from plants contain high concentrations of various chiral compounds such as carboxylic acids or sugars. Several prior studies reported the synthesis of metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles relying on components of complex biological solutions. Herein, we present preparation of chiral CdS and CdSe quantum dots (QDs) using apple juice and red wine via phase transfer ligand exchange. Although both apple juice and red wine contain a complex mixture of chiral and achiral compounds, we have successfully used them for selective induction of predicted chiroptical properties and confirmed L-malic acid from the apple juice and L-tartaric acid from the red wine as the chiral inducers. This work illustrates the capability of using complex mixtures to construct chiral QDs with desired chiroptical properties as well as potential of QDs to selectively report a chiral molecule in a complex chiral mixture without the need for elaborate chiral recognition system.     

Chiral electromigration techniques in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis

Capillary electromigration techniques are often considered ideal methods for enantioseparations due to their high separation selectivity and flexibility. Thus, numerous methods employing a chiral selector as pseudostationary phase in a background electrolyte have been developed and applied for the chiral analysis of drugs in bulk ware, pharmaceutical formulations and biological matrices. Furthermore, electromigration techniques have been combined with spectroscopic methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance in order to understand the complexation of analytes by chiral selectors. The present review focuses on recent developments and applications of chiral electromigration techniques in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis including examples illustrating analyte–selector complex formation or mechanistic studies which have been published between January 2009 and July 2011. Selector-mediated chiral separations clearly dominate while no applications of capillary electrochromatography to pharmaceutical or biomedical analysis have been reported during this period of time.     

Metabolism of a potent neuroprotective hydrazide

Using a drug discovery scheme for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that is based upon multiple pathologies of old age, we identified a potent compound with efficacy in rodent memory and AD animal models. Since this compound, J147, is a phenyl hydrazide, there was concern that it can be metabolized to aromatic amines/hydrazines that are potentially carcinogenic. To explore this possibility, we examined the metabolites of J147 in human and mouse microsomes and mouse plasma. It is shown that J147 is not metabolized to aromatic amines or hydrazines, that the scaffold is exceptionally stable, and that the oxidative metabolites are also neuroprotective. It is concluded that the major metabolites of J147 may contribute to its biological activity in animals.     

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: design of thioureido sulfonamides with potent isozyme II and XII inhibitory properties and intraocular pressure lowering activity in a rabbit model of glaucoma

A new series of thioureido-substituted sulfonamides were prepared by reacting 4-isothiocyanato- or 4-isothiocyanatoethyl-benzenesulfonamide with amines, hydrazines, or amino acids bearing moieties that can lead to an enhanced hydrosolubility, such as 2-dimethylamino-ethylamine, fluorine-containing aromatic amines/hydrazines, an aminodiol, heterocyclic polyamines (derivatives of morpholine and piperazine), 4-aminobenzoic acid, or natural amino acids (Gly, Cys, Asn, Arg, and Phe). The new compounds showed good inhibitory properties against three physiologically relevant carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) isozymes, with K(I)s in the range of 24-324 nM against the cytosolic isoform CA I, of 6-185 nM against the other cytosolic isozyme CA II, and of 1.5-144 nM against the transmembrane isozyme CA XII. Some of the new derivatives were also very effective in reducing elevated intraocular pressure in hypertensive rabbits as a glaucoma animal model. Considering that this is the first study in which potent CA II/CA XII inhibitors are designed and investigated in vivo, it may be assumed that the target isozymes of the antiglaucoma sulfonamides are indeed the cytosolic CA II and the transmembrane CA XII.     

Polarimetric detection in high-performance liquid chromatography

Chiroptical detection for HPLC is particularly useful as a selective detection method for chiral molecules, and in enantiomeric purity determination with partial chiral separation or without chiral separation. The recent development of laser-based polarimeters with microdegree sensitivity has increased the applicability of optical rotation detection in HPLC. The detection limit of these instruments is submicrogram on-column for many chiral compounds in analytical HPLC. A variety of applications of the selective detection of optically active molecules are reviewed. The use of polarimetric detection with partial chiral separation is considered, both as an aid to method development and for enantiomeric purity determination. Finally applications to enantiomeric purity determination without chiral separation are reviewed, with the dual use of nonchirally selective and chiroptical detectors to determine the total amount and optical purity of the analyte. Determinations of chiral purity for samples of high enantiomeric excess are described, which with laser-based instrumentation may give accuracies of better than +/- 1% with sample loadings of 50 micrograms on an achiral column. Applications to the study of enantioselective reactions are also considered, with determination of enantiomeric excess in near-racemates to better than +/- 0.1%.     

Acetylation pharmacogenetics: experimental models for human toxicity

Hereditary acetylation polymorphisms well-suited to experimental pharmacogenetic investigation are now known in three laboratory animal species (rabbit, mouse, and hamster). These animal models provide new evidence for the profound influence of this trait on the metabolic fate of arylamines and hydrazines, and on their pharmacological and toxicological profiles. The rabbit polymorphism most closely resembles that in humans. For the rabbit model, studies have shown that 1) monoacetylhydrazine is a polymorphic substrate for liver N-acetyltransferase in rapid and slow acetylators. This observation, in conjunction with human epidemiological data of others, opposes the commonly held view that rapid acetylators are predisposed to isoniazid (INH)-induced hepatotoxicity. 2) Slow acetylators are much more sensitive than rapid acetylators to the lethal central nervous system toxicity of INH. 3) In hepatocytes in short-term culture and exposed to arylamines and hydrazines, DNA damage is produced by hydralazine in slow acetylator hepatocytes but not in rapid acetylator hepatocytes, whereas hepatocytes from rapid acetylators are more sensitive to toxicity and DNA damage from 2-aminofluorene and benzidine. These investigations in animal models of the acetylation polymorphism provide new insights into human toxicity resulting from environmental arylamines and hydrazines.     

Immobilization and chromatographic evaluation of novel regioselectively substituted amylose‐based chiral packing materials for HPLC

The regioselectively substituted amylose derivatives bearing a 4‐tert‐butylbenzoate or 4‐chlorobenzoate group at 2‐position, and 3,5‐dichlorophenylcarbamate and a small amount of 3‐(triethoxysilyl)propylcarbamate groups at 3‐ and 6‐positions were synthesized by a two‐step process based on the esterification of 2‐position of a glucose unit. The obtained derivatives were effectively immobilized onto macroporous silica gel by intermolecular polycondensation of triethoxysilyl groups. Their chiral recognition abilities were evaluated as chiral packing materials (CPMs) for high‐performance liquid chromatography. These CPMs showed high chiral recognition as well as the conventional coated‐type CPM, and can be used with the eluents‐containing chloroform and tetrahydrofuran. With the extended use of these eluents, improvement of chiral recognition and reversed elution orders were realized. For some racemates, the immobilized CPM exhibited ability comparable or better to the commercial immobilized amylose‐ or cellulose‐based columns, Chiralpak IA, IB, and IC. Chirality, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Aminopyrazoles with high affinity for the human neuropeptide Y5 receptor

1,3-Disubstituted-5-aminopyrazoles were prepared based on a lead compound found through high-throughput screening of our corporate compound library in an assay measuring affinity for the human neuropeptide Y5 receptor. The target compounds were prepared by cyclization of alpha-cyanoketones with appropriate hydrazines, followed by reduction and coupling to various sulfonamido-carboxylic acids. Several of these arylpyrazoles (e.g., 19 and 45) displayed high affinity for the human NPY Y5 receptor (<20nM IC(50)s).     

Novel chiral ionic liquids stationary phases for the enantiomer separation of chiral acid by high‐performance liquid chromatography

Novel chiral ionic liquid stationary phases based on chiral imidazolium were prepared. The ionic liquid chiral selector was synthesized by ring opening of cyclohexene oxide with imidazole or 5,6‐dimethylbenzimidazole, and then chemically modified by different substitute groups. Chiral stationary phases were prepared by bonding to the surface of silica sphere through thioene “click” reaction. Their enantioselective separations of chiral acids were evaluated by high‐performance liquid chromatography. The retention of acid sample was related to the counterion concentration and showed a typical ion exchange process. The chiral separation abilities of chiral stationary phases were greatly influenced by the substituent group on the chiral selector as well as the mobile phase, which indicated that, besides ion exchange, other interactions such as steric hindrance, π‐π interaction, and hydrogen bonding are important for the enantioselectivity. In this report, the influence of bulk solvent components, the effects of varying concentration, and the type of the counterion as well as the proportion of acid and basic additives were investigated in detail.     

Enantioseparation on 4-halogen-substituted phenylcarbamates of amylose as chiral stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatography

Four 4-halogen-substituted phenylcarbamate derivatives of amylose were prepared and their chiral recognition abilities as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were evaluated and compared with those of the corresponding cellulose derivatives. The amylose derivatives with fluoro, chloro, bromo, or iodo group at the four-position on the phenyl group were found to show higher chiral resolving ability than the corresponding cellulose derivatives. Among four amylose derivatives 4-fluoro- and 4-chlorophenylcarbamates showed an excellent chiral recognition ability. Especially, amylose tris(4-chlorophenylcarbamate) resolved (±)-1,2,2,2-tetraphenylethanol with a very high α value (α = 8.29). In order to obtain useful information concerning the chiral recognition mechanism of this resolution, we also performed enantioseparation of a variety of analogous racemic alcohols, and found that both the hydroxy and bulky triphenylmethyl groups of the racemate are essential for the effective chiral recognition. Chirality 9:63–68, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Large-scale applications of NAD(P)-dependent oxidoreductases: recent developments

NAD(P)-dependent dehydrogenases are useful catalysts for the synthesis of chiral compounds. Many active and stable enzymes are available that (with high enantioselectivity) reduce ketones or keto acids to chiral alcohols, hydroxy acids or amino acids. For economic reasons, these reactions need coupling to the simultaneous regeneration of NAD(P)H. For preparative applications, three components have to be combined: an appropriate enzyme, an efficient coenzyme-regenerating step and a suitable reaction-engineering technique.     

Improvement of ligand economy controlled by polymer morphology: the case of polymer-supported bis(oxazoline) catalysts

A functionalized chiral bis(oxazoline) is used as a chiral monomer in polymerization reactions leading to homo- and copolymers of different morphology. Polymers with a high content of chiral monomer lead to enantioselectivities that are higher than those obtained with the soluble ligand, but the chiral ligand is not used in an optimal way. A hyperbranched polymer, obtained by using a hexavinyldendrimer as the cross-linker, leads to the same enantioselectivities with a more efficient use of the chiral ligand.     

Regioselective synthesis of fraxinellone-based hydrazone derivatives as insecticidal agents

In continuation of our program aimed at the discovery and development of natural products-based insecticidal agents, twenty-three new fraxinellone-based hydrazone derivatives were smoothly prepared from fraxinellone via regioselectively allylic oxidation in the presence of selenium dioxide or chromium trioxide under microwave irradiation and subsequent condensation with hydrazides or hydrazines. Their insecticidal activity was evaluated against the pre-third-instar larvae of Mythimna separata Walker in vivo. Especially compounds 6d and 7a displayed the most pronounced insecticidal activity compared with toosendanin, a commercial botanical insecticide derived from Melia azedarach.