Simple Synthesis of a Heterocyclophane Exhibiting Anti-c-Met Activity by Acting as a Hatch Blocking Access to the Active Site*.

A simple approach to the synthesis of heterocyclophane consisting of two 4,4'-bithiazoles has been developed in mild conditions. The heterocyclophane with two short chains was conveniently prepared by Hantzsch thiazoles synthesis using the reaction of 3-tert-butoxycarbonyl-3-azapentanethiocarboxamide with 1,4-dibromobutane-2,3-dione in methanol under reflux for only 15 min. Amino groups at the linkers of this heterocyclophane can be functionalized to give acylated and carbamate derivatives. Their properties as protein kinase inhibitors were investigated, and one of the heterocyclophanes exhibited specific anti-activity for c-mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (IC50 =603 nm), among seven types of protein kinases investigated. The computational site identification by ligand competitive saturation method was used to determine why the one heterocyclophane exhibited strong anti-activity for c-mesenchymal epithelial transition factor.

Ferulic acid esters and weight-loss promoting effects in rats.

We previously fed rats with an ester (90 ppm in a powdered AIN93G diet) synthesized from gallic acid and 1,2-dioleoyl glycerol and found that it promoted weight loss more effectively than either octyl gallate or gallic acid. Here, we esterified ferulic acid (FerA) with oleic acid, monooleoyl glycerol and dioleoyl glycerol to obtain oleoyl ferulic acid (FO), feruloyl monooleoyl glycerol (FMO) and feruloyl dioleoyl glycerol (FDO) esters, respectively. A mixture of AIN93G and 90 ppm of each ester and FerA was fed to 10-week-old male Wistar rats for 12 weeks. The FMO and FDO groups weighed less than the control group starting from approximately 16 weeks of age. At 21 and 22 weeks of age, weight significantly differed between the FMO and both groups, respectively, and controls. The FO, FerA and control groups did not significantly differ in terms of body, liver, kidney and retroperitoneal fat tissue weights and serum biochemical findings. We concluded that the hydroxyl group of FerA is essential for promoting weight loss and that the carboxyl group should be esterified with alcohol. In addition, monooleoyl glycerol and dioleoyl glycerol did not show any difference as the alcohol moiety of the ester in the weight loss effect.

Gallic acid glycerol ester promotes weight-loss in rats.

Lifestyle-related diseases arise from obesity in 30 - 60% of cases. In recent years, food functions controlling the nutritional physiology of lipids have been a focus of disease prevention. Animal feeding experiments have revealed that esters made from gallic acid (GA) and (-)-epigallo-catechin (EGC) or linoleyl alcohol are more effective in weight-loss promotion and metabolic syndrome management than are intact GA and EGC. In this study, an ester (DOGGA) was chemically synthesized from GA and 1,2-dioleoyl glycerol and its effect was compared to that of octyl gallate (OG) and GA in male Wistar rats fed a powdered standard diet containing 7% frying oil for 12 weeks. Results revealed remarkably low body weight gains and food efficiency ratios in the DOGGA group, and the effects of OG were less pronounced than those of DOGGA. The GA group showed no difference from the control group. In addition, fecal lipid content in the DOGGA group was statistically higher than that in the control group, although organ weights and serum biochemical analyses did not differ between the groups. In conclusion, the data suggested that DOGGA promoted weight-loss more effectively than OG and GA did and that the alcohol moiety of gallate is not necessarily EGC and linoleyl alcohol.

Preparation and characterization of new chiral nitronyl nitroxides bearing a stereogenic center in the imidazolyl framework.

A synthetic procedure for optically active and racemic alpha-nitronyl nitroxides (alpha-NNs) having a stereogenic center at the 4-position of the imidazolyl ring is described. This procedure consists of (1) the synthesis of a dissymmetric vic-dinitro compound by Kornblum reaction, (2) the enantiomeric resolution of the racemate by a diastereomer method for obtaining the optically active sample, (3) the quick reduction of the optically active or racemic vic-dinitro compound to the bis(hydroxyamino) derivative with Al/Hg, (4) the solvent-free condensation of the bis(hydroxyamino) compound with an aldehyde to give the 1,3-dihydroxyimidazolidine, and (5) the final oxidation of the alpha-NN precursor with aqueous NaIO(4). The absolute configuration of the optically active alpha-NNs was assigned by correlating with the X-ray crystal structure of the (-)-(1S,4R)-camphanic acid ester derivative of the optically active vic-dinitro compound. The molecular conformation of the optically active alpha-NNs was found to be folded both in solution and in the solid state by CD spectroscopy and energy minimization with the Monte Carlo method. The magnetic properties of both optically active and racemic alpha-NNs in solution and in the solid state were characterized by EPR spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurement, respectively.