Here, we described the synthesis of novel pyrazole-s-triazine derivatives via an easy one-pot procedure for the reaction of β-dicarbonyl compounds (ethylacetoacetate, 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadione or 1,3-cyclohexadionone) with N,N-dimethylformamide dimethylacetal, followed by addition of 2-hydrazinyl-4,6-disubstituted-s-triazine either in ethanol-acetic acid or neat acetic acid to afford a novel pyrazole and pyrazole-fused cycloalkanone systems. The synthetic protocol proved to be efficient, with a shorter reaction time and high chemical yield with broad substrates. The new pyrazolyl-s-triazine derivatives were tested against the following cell lines: MCF-7 (breast cancer); MDA-MB-231 (triple-negative breast cancer); U-87 MG (glioblastoma); A549 (non-small cell lung cancer); PANC-1 (pancreatic cancer); and human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). The cell viability assay revealed that most of the s-triazine compounds induced cytotoxicity in all the cell lines tested. However, compounds 7d, 7f and 7c, which all have a piperidine or morpholine moiety with one aniline ring or two aniline rings in their structures, were the most effective. Compounds 7f and 7d showed potent EGFR inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values of 59.24 and 70.3 nM, respectively, compared to Tamoxifen (IC₅₀ value of 69.1 nM). Compound 7c exhibited moderate activity, with IC₅₀ values of 81.6 nM. Interestingly, hybrids 7d and 7f exerted remarkable PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitory activity with 0.66/0.82/0.80 and 0.35/0.56/0.66-fold, respectively, by inhibiting their concentrations to 4.39, 37.3, and 69.3 ng/mL in the 7d-treatment, and to 2.39, 25.34 and 57.6 ng/mL in the 7f-treatment compared to the untreated control.

4,6-Bis(3,5-dimethyl- 1H -pyrazol-1-yl)- N -phenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine ( PTA-1 ), N -(4-bromophenyl)-4,6-bis(3,5-dimethyl- 1H -pyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine ( PTA-2 ) and 4,6-bis(3,5-dimethyl- 1H -pyrazol-1-yl)- N -(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine ( PTA-3 ) were synthesized and characterized. Their corrosion inhibition of carbon C-steel in 0.25 M H ₂ SO ₄ was studied by electrochemical impedance. The inhibition efficiency (IE%) of triazine was superior due to the cumulative inhibition of triazine core structure and pyrazole motif. Potentiodynamic polarizations suggested that s -triazine derivatives behave as mixed type inhibitors. The IE% values were 96.5% and 93.4% at 120 ppm for inhibitor PTA-2 and PTA-3 bearing –Br and –OCH ₃ groups on aniline, respectively. While PTA-1 without an electron donating group showed only 79.0% inhibition at 175 ppm. The adsorption of triazine derivatives followed Langmuir and Frumkin models. The values of adsorption equilibrium constant K ° _ads and free energy change Δ G ° _ads revealed that adsorption of inhibitor onto steel surface was favoured. A corrosion inhibition mechanism was proposed suggesting the presence of physical and chemical interactions. Density functional theory computational investigation corroborated nicely with the experimental results. Monte Carlo simulation revealed that the energy associated with the metal/adsorbate arrangement d E _ads /d N _i , for both forms of PTA-2 and PTA-3 with electron donating groups (−439.73 and −436.62 kcal mol ⁻¹ ) is higher than that of PTA-1 molecule (−428.73 kcal mol ⁻¹ ). This aligned with experimental inhibition efficiency results.

A novel analogue of hybrid spirooxindoles was synthesized employing a systematic multistep synthetic approach. The synthetic protocol was designed to obtain a series of spirooxindole derivatives incorporating triazolyl-s-triazine framework via [3 + 2] cycloaddition (32CA) reaction of azomethine ylide (AY) with the corresponding chalcones (6a-d). Unexpectedly, the reaction underwent an alternate route, leading to the cleavage of the s-triazine moiety and yielding a series of spirooxindole derivatives incorporating a triazole motif. A comprehensive investigation of the 32CA reaction mechanism was conducted using Molecular Electron Density Theory (MEDT). The viability of all compounds was evaluated through an MTT assay, and the IC₅₀ values were determined using Prism Software. The antiproliferative efficacy of the synthesized chalcones and the corresponding spirooxindole derivatives was assessed against two cancer cell lines: MDA-MB-231 (triple-negative breast cancer) and HepG2 (human hepatoma). These findings were compared with Sorafenib, which was used as a positive control. The results revealed that chalcones (6c and 6d) were the most active among the tested chalcones, with IC₅₀ values of 7.2 ± 0.56 and 7.5 ± 0.281 µM for (6c) and of 11.1 ± 0.37 and 11.0 ± 0.282 µM for (6d), against MDA-MB-231 and HepG2, respectively. Spirooxindoles (9b, 9c, 9h, and 9i) exhibited the highest activity with IC₅₀ values ranging from 16.8 ± 0.37 µM to 31.3 ± 0.86 µM against MDA-MB-231 and 13.5 ± 0.92 µM to 24.2 ± 0.21 µM against HepG2. In particular, spirooxindole derivatives incorporating 2,4-dichlorophenyl moiety were the most active, with an IC₅₀ of 16.8 ± 0.37 µM for (9h) against MDA-MB-23 and 13.5 ± 0.92 µM for (9i) against HepG2. Interestingly, the IC₅₀ of compound (6c) (7.2 µM) exhibited better activity than that of Sorafenib (positive control) (9.98 µM) against MDA-MB-231. Molecular docking, ADMET, and molecular dynamic simulations were conducted for the promising candidates (6b, 6c, and 9h) to explore their binding affinity in the EGFR active site.

The corrosion inhibition of C-steel by two s-triazine/morpholino-anilino-pyrazole derivatives, namely, 4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-6-morpholino-N-phenyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine (1) and N-(4-bromophenyl)-4-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-6-morpholino-1,3,5-triazin-2-amine (2) was investigated by impedimetric and potentiometric studies. It was found that (1) and (2) acted as cathodic-type corrosion inhibitors that retard the hydrogen evolution reaction. The percent corrosion inhibition, 98.5% for compound (2) (with bromo substituent) at 80 ppm, was slightly higher than 97.8% for (1) at 100 ppm. Thus, the replacement of a -H with -Br substituent increased the corrosion inhibition properties. Compound (2) exhibited Temkin isotherm adsorption, whereas compound (1) exhibited Langmuir adsorption. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the steel surface indicated that the inhibitors caused protection of the surface. The weight loss experiment also proved the decrease in the corrosion rate when inhibitors were added. The difference in inhibitory efficiency between compounds (1) and (2) was investigated by density functional theory (DFT) to study neutral and protonated species in gaseous and aqueous phases. The theoretical analysis demonstrated that compound (2) exhibited higher inhibitory activity on a metal surface compared to compound (1), aligning with the experimental results. The energy associated with the metal/adsorbate arrangement, represented by dE _ads/dN_i , was higher for (2) (-380.91 kcal mol^-1) compared to (1) (-371.64 kcal mol^-1). This indicated better adsorption of (2) over (1).

During the past two decades, the world has witnessed the emergence of various SARS-CoV-2 variants with distinct mutational profiles influencing the global health, economy, and clinical aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These variants or mutants have raised major concerns regarding the protection provided by neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and vaccination, rates of virus transmission, and/or the risk of reinfection. The newly emerged Omicron, a genetically distinct lineage of SARS-CoV-2, continues its spread in the face of rising vaccine-induced immunity while maintaining its replication fitness. Efforts have been made to improve the therapeutic interventions and the FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorization for a few monoclonal antibodies and drug treatments for COVID-19. However, the current situation of rapidly spreading Omicron and its lineages demands the need for effective therapeutic interventions to reduce the COVID-19 pandemic. Several experimental studies have indicated that the FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies are less effective than antiviral drugs against the Omicron variant. Thus, in this study, we aim to identify antiviral compounds against the Spike protein of Omicron, which binds to the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and facilitates virus invasion. Initially, docking-based virtual screening of the in-house database was performed to extract the potential hit compounds against the Spike protein. The obtained hits were optimized by DFT calculations to determine the electronic properties and molecular reactivity of the compounds. Further, MD simulation studies were carried out to evaluate the dynamics of protein–ligand interactions at an atomistic level in a time-dependent manner. Collectively, five compounds (AKS-01, AKS-02, AKS-03, AKS-04, and AKS-05) with diverse scaffolds were identified as potential hits against the Spike protein of Omicron. Our study paves the way for further in vitro and in vivo studies.

Pyrite ${\mathrm{FeS}}_2$ has become the focus of many researchers in thin-film photovoltaics because it has some possibilities in photovoltaics. In this manuscript, we present an experimental and a theoretical study of the electronic structure of pyrite ${\mathrm{FeS}}_2$ alloyed with a small concentration of 1.19% of ruthenium (${\mathrm{Fe}}_{0.9881}{\mathrm{Ru}}_{0.0119}{\mathrm{S}}_2$) by using the Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital Method in the Atomic-Sphere approximation (LMTO-ASA) calculations and the density of states. We observed that the bandgap of ${\mathrm{FeS}}_2$ increases from $0.90508$ to $1.21586 \mathrm{eV}$ when we replace $~1.19\%$ of the $\mathrm{Fe}$ atoms with ruthenium atoms $\left(\mathrm{x}=0.0119 \mathrm{concentration} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{Ru}\right)$. We prove that this low concentration of Ru saved the gap states and the electronic and optical properties of ${\mathrm{FeS}}_2$ pyrite. Our calculated electronic bandgap is $1.21586 \mathrm{eV}$ and direct. Our results confirm that the symmetric operation of the space ${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{h}}^6 \left(\mathrm{Pa}3\right)$ saves electronic structure of iron pyrite when alloyed with ruthenium.