Facile Three-Component Synthesis, Insecticidal and Antifungal Evaluation of Novel Dihydropyridine Derivatives.

In an attempt to find the neonicotinoid insecticides, twenty novel dihydropyridine derivatives were designed, "green" synthesized via one pot facile three-component reaction and evaluated for their bioactivities against Tetranychus cinnabarinus, Myzus persicae, Brevicoryne brassicae, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum, Magnaporthe oryzae, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Botrytis cinereal. All of the tested compounds showed potent insecticidal activity, and some were much better in comparison with imidacloprid (IMI). Especially, compounds 3d (LC50: 0.011 mM) and 5c (LC50: 0.025 mM) were 12.2- and 5.4-fold more active than IMI (LC50: 0.135 mM) against T. cinnabarinus, respectively. Moreover, out of all the derivatives, compound 3d (LC50: 0.0015 mM) exhibited the strongest insecticidal activity against B. brassicae and compound 3i (LC50: 0.0007 mM) displayed the strongest insecticidal activity against M. persicae. Surprisingly, when the concentration of compound 4 was 50 mg/L, the inhibition rate against F. oxysporum and S. sclerotiorum reached 45.00% and 65.83%, respectively. The present work indicated that novel dihydropyridine derivatives could be used as potential lead compounds for developing neonicotinoid insecticides and agricultural fungicides.

Design, synthesis and potent cytotoxic activity of novel 7-(N-[(substituted-sulfonyl)piperazinyl]-methyl)-camptothecin derivatives.

In an effort to discover potent camptothecin-derived antitumor agents, novel camptothecin analogues with sulfonylpiperazinyl motifs at position-7 were designed and synthesized. They were evaluated for in vitro cytotoxicity with the sulforhodamine-B (SRB) method in five types of human tumor cell lines, A-549, MDA-MB-231, KB, KB-VIN and MCF-7. With IC50 values in the low µM to nM level, most of the new analogues showed greater cytotoxicity activity than the reference compounds irinotecan and topotecan. Furthermore, compounds 12l (IC50, 1.2nM) and 12k (IC50, 20.2nM) displayed the highest cytotoxicity against the multidrug-resistant (MDR) KB-VIN cell line and merit further development as preclinical drug candidates for treating cancer, including MDR phenotype. Our study suggested that integration of sulfonylpiperazinyl motifs into position-7 of camptothecin is an effective strategy for discovering new potent cytotoxic camptothecin derivatives.

Synthesis, biological activities and structure-activity relationships for new avermectin analogues.

In an effort to discover new molecules with good insecticidal activities, more than 40 new avermectin derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their biological activities against three species of arachnids, insects and nematodes, namely, Tetranychus Cinnabarinus, Aphis craccivora and Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. All the tested compounds showed potent inhibitory activities against three insect species. Notably, the majority of compounds exhibited high selectivity against T. cinnabarinus, some of which were much better in comparison with avermectin. Especially compounds 9j (LC50: 0.005 µM) and 16d (LC50: 0.002 µM) were 2.5- and 4.7-fold more active than avermectin (LC50: 0.013 µM), respectively, against T. cinnabarinus. Moreover, compounds 9b, 9d-f, 9h, 9j, 9l, 9n, 9p, 9r, 9v and 17d showed superior activities with LC50 values of 2.959-5.013 µM compared to that of 1 (LC50: 6.746 µM) against B. xylophilus. Meanwhile, the insecticidal activities of compounds 9f, 9g, 9h, and 9m against A. craccivora were 7-8 times better than that of avermectin, with LC50 values of 7.744, 5.634, 6.809, 7.939 and 52.234 µM, respectively. Furthermore, QSAR analysis showed that the molecular shape, size, connectivity degree and electronic distribution of avermectin analogues had substantial effects on insecticidal potency. These preliminary results provided useful insight in guiding further modifications of avermectin in the development of potential new insecticides.

Design and synthesis of novel PEG-conjugated 20(S)-camptothecin sulfonylamidine derivatives with potent in vitro antitumor activity via Cu-catalyzed three-component reaction.

In our continuing search for camptothecin (CPT)-derived antitumor drugs, novel structurally diverse PEG-based 20(S)-CPT sulfonylamidine derivatives were designed, synthesized via a Cu-multicomponent reaction (MCR), and evaluated for cytotoxicity against four human tumor cell lines (A-549, MDA-MB-231, KB, and KBvin). All of the derivatives showed promising in vitro cytotoxic activity against the tested tumor cell lines, and were more potent than irinotecan. Significantly, these derivatives exhibited comparable cytotoxicity against KBvin, while irinotecan was less active against this cell line. With a concise efficient synthesis and potent cytotoxic profiles, especially significant activity towards KBvin, these compounds merit further development as a new generation of CPT-derived PEG-conjugated drug candidates.