Introduction – AD, the most common form of dementia, has a multifactorial etiology, and the current therapy (AChEIs and memantine) is unable to interrupt its progress and fatal outcome. This is reflected in the research programs that are oriented toward the development of new therapeutics able to operate on multiple targets involved in the disease progression. Areas covered – The patents from 2016 to present regarding the use of AChEIs in AD, concerns the development of new AChEIs, multitarget or multifunctional ligands, or the associations of currently used AChEIs with other compounds acting on different targets involved in the AD. Expert opinion – The development of new multitarget AChEIs promises to identify compounds with great therapeutic potential but requires more time and effort in order to obtain drugs with the optimal pharmacodynamic profile. Otherwise, the research on new combinations of existing drugs, with known pharmacodynamic and ADME profile, could shorten the time and reduce the costs to develop a new therapeutic treatment for AD. From the analyzed data, it seems more likely that a response to the urgent need to develop effective treatments for AD therapy could come more quickly from studies on drug combinations than from the development of new AChEIs.

Chirality is undoubtedly a fundamental property of nature since the different interactions of optically active molecules in a chiral environment are essential for numerous applications. Thus, in the field of asymmetric synthesis, the search for efficient, sustainable, cost-effective and recyclable chiral catalysts is still the main challenge in organic chemistry. The field of carbon dots (CDs) has experienced tremendous development in the last 15 years, including their applications as achiral catalysts. Thus, understanding the implications of chirality in CDs chemistry could be of utmost importance to achieving sustainable and biocompatible chiral nanocatalysts. An efficient and cost-effective electrochemical synthetic methodology for the synthesis of L-Proline-based chiral carbon dots (CCDs) and EtOH-derived L-Proline-based chiral carbon dots (CCDs) is herein reported. The electrochemical set-up and reaction conditions have been thoroughly optimised and their effects on CCDs size, photoluminescence, as well as catalytic activity have been investigated. The obtained CCDs have been successfully employed to catalyze an asymmetric aldol reaction, showing excellent results in terms of yield, diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Moreover, the sustainable nature of the CCDs was demonstrated by recycling the catalysts for up to 3 cycles without any loss of reactivity or stereoselectivity.

Imidazolium-based dicationic ionic liquids (DILs) are gaining considerable space in the field of organocatalysis mainly due to the opportunities in offering new possible applicable structural variations. In addition to the well-known variables which made the ionic liquids (ILs) famous as the type of cation and anion used, the nature of the molecular spacer moiety turns out a further possibility to improve some physicochemical properties, for example, solubility, acidity, electrochemical behavior, and so on. For this reason, this class of ionic liquids has been considered as possible competitors to their corresponding monocationic salts in replacing common catalysts in organic synthesis, particularly in cases in which their bidentate nature could positively affect the catalytic activity. This mini-review is intended to highlight the progress carried out in the last six years in the field of organocatalysis, including DILs as such and as hybrids with polymers, nanomaterials, and composites.

We discovered novel and selective sulfonamides/amides acting as inhibitors of the α-carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) from the pathogenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae (VchCA). This Gram-negative bacterium is the causative agent of cholera and colonises the upper small intestine where sodium bicarbonate is present at a high concentration. The secondary sulfonamides and amides investigated here were potent, low nanomolar VchCA inhibitors whereas their inhibition of the human cytosolic isoforms CA I and II was in the micromolar range or higher. The molecules represent an interesting lead for antibacterial agents with a possibly new mechanism of action, although their CA inhibition mechanism is unknown for the moment.

1‐Methyl‐3‐butylimidazolium ionic liquids BMImX (X anions: Ac ⁻ , HCO ₃ ⁻ , Cl ⁻ , BF ₄ ⁻ , PF ₆ ⁻ , I ⁻ , CF ₃ CO ₂ ⁻ , (CF ₃ SO ₂ ) ₂ N ⁻ , CF ₃ SO ₃ ⁻ ) were used as catalysts in the Knoevenagel condensation reaction. The catalytic activity was compared with that of the inorganic salts NaAc, NaHCO ₃ , NaCl. Whereas it is quite important to select suitable cation and anion depending on the purpose, the basicity of the anion X ⁻ and the ability of the counter‐ion BMIm ⁺ to avoid the ion pairing with anion X ⁻ was investigated. 1‐Methyl‐3‐butyl imidazolium acetate [BMImAc] and 1‐methyl‐3‐butyl imidazolium hydrogen carbonate [BMImHCO ₃ ] show the most significant catalytic power and their catalytic effect was studied on a wide range of aromatic, heteroaromatic or aliphatic aldehydes or ketones with active methylene compounds. The corresponding substituted alkenes were obtained in excellent yields (up to 98%) in the absence of any solvent at room temperature within short times. The interesting feature of this study includes explanation on role of the cation BMIm ⁺ as proton donor (versus anions Ac ⁻ or HCO ₃ ⁻ ), in ion pair formation (with anion X ⁻ ) and activator of the aldehyde structure.