Selected Plant Triterpenoids and Their Derivatives as Antiviral Agents.

The results of the most recent investigation of triterpenoid-based antiviral agents namely in the HIV-1 and HSV-1 treatment were reviewed and summarized. Several key historical achievements are included to stress consequences and continuity in this research. Most of the agents studied belong to a series of compounds derived from betulin or betulinic acid, and their synthetic derivative is called bevirimat. A termination of clinical trials of bevirimat in Phase IIb initiated a search for more successful compounds partly derived from bevirimat or designed independently of bevirimat structure. Surprisingly, a majority of bevirimat mimics are derivatives of betulinic acid, while other plant triterpenoids, such as ursolic acid, oleanolic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid, or other miscellaneous triterpenoids, are relatively rarely involved in a search for a novel antiviral agent. Therefore, this review article is divided into three parts based on the leading triterpenoid core structure.

Saponins of Selected Triterpenoids as Potential Therapeutic Agents: A Review.

Saponins represent important natural derivatives of plant triterpenoids that are secondary plant metabolites. Saponins, also named glycoconjugates, are available both as natural and synthetic products. This review is focused on saponins of the oleanane, ursane, and lupane types of triterpenoids that include several plant triterpenoids displaying various important pharmacological effects. Additional convenient structural modifications of naturally-occurring plant products often result in enhancing the pharmacological effects of the parent natural structures. This is an important objective for all semisynthetic modifications of the reviewed plant products, and it is included in this review paper as well. The period covered by this review (2019-2022) is relatively short, mainly due to the existence of previously published review papers in recent years.

Improved enzyme-mediated synthesis and supramolecular self-assembly of naturally occurring conjugates of ß-sitosterol.

Naturally occurring acylated ß-sitosteryl glucosides have been investigated for their novel properties. The synthetic protocol based on the literature data was improved and optimized. The main improvement consists in employing systems of ionic liquids combined with organic solvents in lipase-mediated esterification of (3ß)-stigmast-5-en-3-yl ß-d-glucopyranoside to get (3ß)-stigmast-5-en-3-yl 6-O-acyl-ß-d-glucopyranosides. Maximum yields of these products were achieved with Candida antarctica lipase B immobilized on Immobead 150, recombinant from yeast, in absolute THF and in the presence of either ionic liquid [1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF4) or 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM]PF6)] employed. Pharmacological activity of (3ß)-stigmast-5-en-3-yl 6-O-acyl-ß-d-glucopyranosides was studied in tests on MCF7 tumor cell lines; the compounds displayed moderate activity which was higher than the activity of ß-sitosterol. Supramolecular characteristics were discovered at (3ß)-stigmast-5-en-3-yl 6-O-dodecanoyl-ß-d-glucopyranoside that formed supramolecular polymer through multiple H-bonds in a methanol/water system (60/40). Its formation was confirmed by the independent UV-vis measurements during certain time period, by variable temperature DOSY-NMR measurement in deuteriochloroform, and visualized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showing chiral helical structures and complex superassembly systems based on fibrous supramolecular polymer. In contrary, no such properties have been observed for the other two (3ß)-stigmast-5-en-3-yl 6-O-acyl-ß-d-glucopyranosides under the given experimental conditions.

Succinobucol's new coat--conjugation with steroids to alter its drug effect and bioavailability.

Synthesis, detailed structural characterization (X-ray, NMR, MS, IR, elemental analysis), and studies of toxicity, antioxidant activity and bioavailability of unique potent anti-atherosclerotic succinobucol-steroid conjugates are reported. The conjugates consist of, on one side, the therapeutically important drug succinobucol ([4-{2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-[(1-{[3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-5-(propan-2-yl)phenyl]sulfanyl}ethyl)sulfanyl]phenoxy}-4-oxo-butanoic acid]) possessing an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and on the other side, plant stanol/sterols (stigmastanol, ß-sitosterol and stigmasterol) possessing an ability to lower the blood cholesterol level. A cholesterol-succinobucol prodrug was also prepared in order to enhance the absorption of succinobucol through the intestinal membrane into the organism and to target the drug into the place of lipid metabolism-The enterohepatic circulation system. Their low toxicity towards mice fibroblasts at maximal concentrations, their antioxidant activity, comparable or even higher than that of ascorbic acid as determined by direct quenching of the DPPH radical, and their potential for significantly altering total and LDL cholesterol levels, suggest that these conjugates merit further studies in the treatment of cardiovascular or other related diseases. A brief discussion of succinobucol's ability to quench the radicals, supported with a computational model of the electrostatic potential mapped on the electron density surface of the drug, is also presented.

ß-Sitosterol: supercritical carbon dioxide extraction from sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) seeds.

Supercritical fluid extraction represents an efficient and environmentally friendly technique for isolation of phytosterols from different plant sources. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) seeds were extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide at pressures ranging from 15-60 MPa and temperatures of 40-80 degrees C. Oil and ß-sitosterol yields were measured in the extraction course and compared with Soxhlet extraction with hexane. The average yield of ß-sitosterol was 0.31 mg/g of seeds. The maximum concentration of ß-sitosterol in the extract, 0.5% w/w, was achieved at 15 MPa, 40 degrees C, and a carbon dioxide consumption of 50 g/g of seeds. The extraction rate was maximal at 60 MPa and 40 degrees C. Both ß-sitosterol yield and its concentration in the extract obtained with hexane were lower than with carbon dioxide.

Glycosidic juvenogens: derivatives bearing alpha,beta-unsaturated ester functionalities.

A series of the protected alkyl glycosides 5a/5b-12a/12b was synthesized from the parent isomeric alcohols (insect juvenile hormone bioanalogs; juvenoids), 4-[4'-(2''-hydroxycyclohexyl)methylphenoxy]-3-methyl-but-2-enoic acid ethyl ester (1a/1b-4a/4b; racemic structures) and (1a-4a; enantiopure structures). Cadmium carbonate was used as a promoter of this Koenigs-Knorr reaction, and the products were obtained in 82-92% yields. Deprotection of the carbohydrate functionality of 5a/5b-12a/12b was carefully performed using ethanolysis in the presence of zinc acetate, due to the presence of another ester functionality in the aglycone part of the molecule of protected alkyl glycosides. Resulting alkyl glycosides 13a/13b-20a/20b (diastereoisomeric mixtures) and 13a-20a (enantiopure compounds), biochemically activated hormonogenic compounds (juvenogens), were obtained in 82-93% yields. Finally, chiral HPLC separation of the diastereoisomeric mixtures of alkyl glycosides was applied to get sufficient quantities of the respective enantiomers 13b-20b of the alkyl glycosides for their structure elucidation and (13)C chemical shift assignment by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. Partial introductory entomological screening tests of the target alkyl glycosides 13a/13b-20a/20b were performed on the red firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus). The results of this biological testing clearly demonstrated the time-extended effect of several juvenogens on P. apterus due to their biochemical activation, i.e., hydrolysis of the juvenogen molecule, which results in liberation of the biologically active juvenoid in the insect organism.

Insect pest control agents: Novel chiral butanoate esters (juvenogens).

During the investigation of ester derivatives (juvenogens, biochemically activated insect hormonogenic compounds) of biologically active alcohols with potential application in insect pest control, a need for availability of all existing stereoisomers of ethyl N-{2-[4-(2-butanoyloxycyclohexyl)methyl]phenoxy}ethyl carbamate occurred. They were synthesized from their chiral precursors, the corresponding stereoisomers of 2-(4-methoxybenzyl)cyclohexyl butanoate, by removing their protecting group (methyl), and by subsequent condensation of the aromatic hydroxyl moiety with ethyl N-(2-bromoethyl) carbamate. The requested enantiomers of 2-(4-methoxybenzyl)cyclohexyl butanoate were obtained by a Candida antarctica lipase-mediated transesterification and chiral resolution of the respective racemic cis- and trans-isomers of 2-(4-methoxybenzyl)cyclohexanol either directly or after a subsequent chemical esterification of the chiral precursor. In this synthesis, two convenient butanoic acid activating esters, vinyl butanoate and 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl butanoate, were employed, and the chiral precursors in the synthesis of the target molecules were obtained in 41-48% yields (i.e., 82-96% conversion), and with enantiomeric purity ee=96-98%, respectively. The enantiomeric purity of the products was determined by chiral HPLC analysis, and their absolute configuration was assigned on the basis of analyzing the (1)H and (19)F NMR spectra of their diastereoisomeric Mosher acid (3,3,3-trifluoromethyl-2-methoxy-2-phenylpropanoic acid) esters.