Development of an Optimized Method to Obtain a Limonene-Rich Concentrate from the Discarded Lemon Peels.

In this study, lemon peels were used as volatile component source. Automatic solvent extraction has been used for the recovery of limonene rich citrus volatile extract for the first time. The process parameters (amount of raw material, immersion time and washing time) were analyzed to optimize the process by means of Box-Behnken design via response surface methodology. The optimum conditions were achieved by ~10 g fresh lemon peel, and ~15 min immersion time and ~13 min washing time. The difference between the actual (89.37 mg/g limonene) and predicted (90.85 mg/g limonene) results was satisfactory (<2 %). α-Terpinene, ß-pinene, citral, É£-terpinene and linalool were determined as other major volatiles in the peel extract. FT-IR and 1 H- and 13 C-NMR spectroscopies were applied to verify the identified volatile compounds.

New Ketene Dithioacetals Generated from 2-Nitroperchlorobutadiene and Investigation of Their Antibacterial, Antifungal, Anticonvulsant and Antidepressant Activities.

The ketene dithioacetal 3 generated from 2-nitroperchlorobutadiene 1 reacted with various heterocyclic amines and aliphatic, aromatic and heterocyclic thiols to produce functionalized new ketene-N,S,S-acetals and S,S,S-acetals 4a-f, 5a-h as heterocyclic dithiolanes. They were separated/purified by chromatographic methods and their exact structure characterization were made clear by spectroscopic methods. These compounds synthesized could act as effective drugs for versatile activity. Evaluation of the antimicrobial effect of the obtained substances determined derivatives 4e and 5h, which have MIC=15.6 µg/mL for the test culture of Mycobacterium luteum bacteria closing to the control drug Vancomycin. The obtained compounds can be proposed as a promising synthetic objects for future molecular design to enhance the antimicrobial action. Ketene dithioacetals 3, 4a, 4b, 4e, 5g (50 mg/kg) exhibited antiseizure effect comparable with reference drug (valproic acid) on the model of pentylenetetrazole-induced convulsions after single oral administration both at 3 h and 24 h. Furthermore, tested dithioacetals possessed prolonged antidepressant activity in forced swim test (FST) considerable decreasing the duration of immobility time compared to reference drug amitriptyline. This is the first study of the investigation of anticonvulsant and antidepressant activities of ketene dithioacetals.

Synthesis of New Regioisomers of 5-Nitro-1,4-Naphthoquinone, Evaluation of Antioxidant and Catalase Inhibition Activities.

The studies on nitronaphthoquinone derivatives are rare in the literature, and the nitro group associated with the aromatic ring in the quinone system is known to increase the biological activity of naphthoquinone due to its electron-withdrawing properties. In the course of quinone derivatives, the new N(H)-substituted-5-nitro-1,4-naphthoquinones (NQ) as regioisomers were synthesized by reactions of 2,3-dichloro-5-nitro-1,4-naphthoquinone with some heterocyclic ring substituted nucleophiles such as anilines, piperazines, or morpholines, according to a Michael 1,4-addition mechanism. Five NQ regioisomer couples having different functional group (2-chloro-isomers 3, 5, 7, 9 and 13; 3-chloro-isomers 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12) are reported here. All new synthesized compounds were characterized by spectroscopic methods and two-dimensional NMR techniques 1H-1H correlated spectroscopy (COSY).The synthesized NQ regioisomers were evaluated for catalase enzyme inhibitory activities and antioxidant efficiency. The synthesized regioisomers were screened for their antioxidant capacity using the cupric-reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method. 2-Chloro-3-((2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)amino)-5-nitronaphthalene-1,4-dione (5) showed the highest antioxidant capacity with a 1.80±0.06 CUPRAC-trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) coefficient. Compound 5 also showed strongest catalase enzyme inhibitory activity. The antioxidant capacity results of all 2-chloro regioisomers are higher than the 3-chloro regioisomers. Likewise, also catalase enzyme inhibitory activities results were determined in the same way, except for one regioisomer pair. The catalase was effectively inhibited by the newly synthesized compounds, with % inhibition values in the range of 0.71-0.86%. Some of these NQ compounds also showed remarkable antioxidant capacities.

A novel 1,4-naphthoquinone-derived compound induces apoptotic cell death in breast cancer cells.

Breast cancer is the most-diagnosed cancer type among women. The triple-negative subtype is an especially aggressive type of breast cancer. Although chemotherapy is almost the only option for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), currently used chemotherapeutics are not effective enough, considering the poor survival rate of patients. Therefore, novel compounds need to be developed to improve survival rates. It has been known that quinonic compounds, which are found in nature, have antibacterial, antifungal, and antitumorigenic properties. Naphthoquinones are members of the quinone family and are widely used in research due to their promising properties. In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxic activity of a novel naphthoquinone-derived compound (1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NQ)) against two different breast cancer cells: a hormone-responsive cell line (MCF-7) and a triple-negative cell line (MDA-MB-231). As a result, 1,4-NQ decreased cell viability in both tested cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. Increased apoptotic markers (presence of pyknotic nuclei, annexin-V positivity, caspase 3/7 activity, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential) and DNA damage were especially observed in MDA-MB-231 cells after treatment with the compound. Considering the promising cytotoxic effect of the compound, 1,4-NQ needs further evaluation as a potential candidate for the treatment of TNBC.

Design, Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of Heteroatom-Substituted 1,4-Naphtho- and Benzoquinones.

In the present paper, we report the synthesis, characterization, and biological evaluation as antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic/anticancer agents of N-, S-, O-substituted-1,4-naphtho- and 2,5-bis(amino-substituted)-1,4-benzoquinone derivatives. In the synthesized compounds, antimicrobial activity at low concentrations against Escherichia coli B-906, Staphylococcus aureus 209-P, and Mycobacterium luteum B-917 bacteria and Candida tenuis VKM Y-70 and Aspergillus niger F-1119 fungi in comparison with controls was identified. 2-(N-Diphenylmethylpiperazin-1-yl)-3-chloro-1,4-naphthoquinone 9a was the most potent, with a minimum inhibitory concentration value of 3.9 µg/mL against test culture M. luteum. The synthesized compounds were screened for their antioxidant capacity using the cupric-reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method. 2,2'-[1-(2-Aminoethyl)piperazin-1-yl]-3,3'-dichloro-bis(1,4-naphthoquinone) 10 showed the highest antioxidant capacity, with a 0.455 CUPRAC-trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) coefficient. Other parameters of antioxidant activity (scavenging effects on OH(·), O2(·ï¼), and H2O2) of these compounds were also determined. The cytotoxic activity of the compounds was investigated by employing the sulforhodamine B cell viability assay against A549 (lung), MCF-7 (breast), DU145 (prostate), and HT-29 (colon) cancer cell lines. Compound 10 exhibited the most powerful cytotoxic activity at a concentration of 20 µM against all cell lines. In addition to the strongest antioxidant activity of compound 10, it also had lowest IC50 values (<3 µM), warranting further in vivo studies due to its anticancer activity.

cis-Dioxomolybdenum(VI) complexes of a new ONN chelating thiosemicarbazidato ligand; synthesis, characterization, crystal, molecular structures and antioxidant activities.

5-Chloro-4-methyl-2-hydroxybenzophenone S-propyl-4-phenyl-thiosemicarbazone (H2L) and its cis-dioxomolybdenum(VI) complexes, in the general formula [MoO2(L)R-OH)] (R: methyl, 1; ethyl, 2; n-propyl, 3; n-butyl, 4; n-pentyl, 5), were synthesized and characterized by micro analysis, electronic, infrared and (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra. The crystal structures of complexes, 1 and 3, have been solved by direct methods (SIR92) and refined to the residual indexes R1=0.098 and R1=0.052 respectively. Complexes 1 and 3 are crystallized in the triclinic space group P-1 with Z=2. The crystal study of complex 1 showed the first example of intermolecular hydrogen bond for this type of molybdenum-thiosemicarbazone complexes. The hydrogen bond is between the hydroxyl proton of attached alcohol and an oxo oxygen (in MoO2(2+) unit) of another complex molecule, and its bond distance (1.767(1)Å) is shorter than from the σ-coordination bonds in complex 1. Antioxidant activities of the compounds were determined by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. Ligand showed 23.61% DPPH radical scavenging activity at 250 mg/L concentration. Cupric Reducing Antioxidant Capacity (CUPRAC) was also evaluated and trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) values were found for ligand, 1 and 3 as 0.51, 0.33 and 0.30 respectively.