A convenient and clean “on water”-mediated synthesis of benzothiazoles/benzothiazolines is reported. Aromatic, heteroaromatic, and styryl aldehydes are converted to 2-substituted benzothiazoles in high yields in a one-pot reaction with 2-aminothiophenol in water at 110 °C (oil-bath). Alkyl and aryl alkyl aldehydes afforded the benzothiazolines. The reaction is highly chemoselective with no competitive thia-Michael addition, O-dealkylation/debenzoylation, reduction of the nitro or the α,β-unsaturated carbonyl groups, and substitution of the halogen atom or the nitro group. The reaction is found to be general with respect to the 2-aminothiophenol substrate through the reaction of a few substituted 2-aminothiophenols with a few representative aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes. The procedure does not involve the use of any additional reagent/catalyst, produces no waste, and represents a green synthetic protocol.

Silica gel (60–120 mesh) efficiently catalyses the opening of epoxide rings by amines at rt under solvent-free conditions providing an easy method for the synthesis of 2-amino alcohols. Aromatic and aliphatic amines react with cyclohexene oxide with exclusive formation of the trans-2-aryl/alkylaminocyclohexanols in high yields. A complementary regioselectivity is exhibited by aromatic and aliphatic amines during the reaction with styrene oxide. The epoxide ring of non-styrenoidal unsymmetrical alkene oxide undergoes selective nucleophilic attack at the sterically less hindered carbon by aniline.

Influenza virus sialidase has an essential role in the virus' life cycle. Two distinct groups of influenza A virus sialidases have been established, that differ in the flexibility of the '150-loop', providing a more open active site in the apo form of the group-1 compared to group-2 enzymes. In this study we show, through a multidisciplinary approach, that novel sialic acid-based derivatives can exploit this structural difference and selectively inhibit the activity of group-1 sialidases. We also demonstrate that group-1 sialidases from drug-resistant mutant influenza viruses are sensitive to these designed compounds. Moreover, we have determined, by protein X-ray crystallography, that these inhibitors lock open the group-1 sialidase flexible 150-loop, in agreement with our molecular modelling prediction. This is the first direct proof that compounds may be developed to selectively target the pandemic A/H1N1, avian A/H5N1 and other group-1 sialidase-containing viruses, based on an open 150-loop conformation of the enzyme.