The naturally occurring nucleic acid bases (nucleobases) adenine, thymine (uracil), guanine, and cytosine are widely appreciated for their ability to stabilize canonical Watson–Crick base-pairing motifs, as well as a number of other well-characterized arrangements, such as Hoogsteen and wobble heterodimers, and a variety of homodimers. In this tutorial review, the use of these kinds of interactions to form synthetic polymeric and oligomeric ensembles is summarized. Particular emphasis will be placed on synthetic analogues of guanine that stabilize the formation of well-defined higher order aggregates, as well as de novo polymeric systems whose properties are modulated by the presence of nucleobase derivatives incorporated within or attached to the chain-defining backbone. In both cases, nucleobase–nucleobase interactions serve to underlie the chemistry, establish the structural morphology, and enable the development of bioinspired, environmentally responsive materials.

One crucial strategy for the treatment of breast cancer involves focusing on the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor (VEGFR-2) signaling system. Consequently, the development of new (VEGFR-2) inhibitors is of the utmost importance. In this study, novel 3-thiazolhydrazinylcoumarins were designed and synthesized via the reaction of phenylazoacetylcoumarin with various hydrazonoyl halides and α-bromoketones. By using elemental and spectral analysis data (IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and Mass), the ascribed structures for all newly synthesized compounds were clarified, and the mechanisms underlying their formation were delineated. The molecular docking studies of the resulting 6-(phenyldiazenyl)-2H-chromen-2-one (3, 6a–e, 10a–c and 12a–c) derivatives were assessed against VEGFR-2 and demonstrated comparable activities to that of Sorafenib (approved medicine) with compounds 6d and 6b showing the highest binding scores (−9.900 and −9.819 kcal/mol, respectively). The cytotoxicity of the most active thiazole derivatives 6d, 6b, 6c, 10c and 10a were investigated for their human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell line and normal cell line LLC-Mk2 using MTT assay and Sorafenib as the reference drug. The results revealed that compounds 6d and 6b exhibited greater anticancer activities (IC₅₀ = 10.5 ± 0.71 and 11.2 ± 0.80 μM, respectively) than the Sorafenib reference drug (IC₅₀ = 5.10 ± 0.49 μM). Therefore, the present study demonstrated that thiazolyl coumarins are potential (VEGFR-2) inhibitors and pave the way for the synthesis of additional libraries based on the reported scaffold, which could eventually lead to the development of efficient treatment for breast cancer.

A porphyrin functionalised with pillar[5]arene and a viologen at its 5- and 15-meso positions assembles in a head-to-tail manner, producing linear supramolecular daisy chains in dichloromethane. At high concentrations, it forms an organogel which has been investigated by electron microscopy and rheological measurements, paving the way for the preparation of other functional supramolecular assemblies which harness viologen⊂pillararene host–guest interactions.

The development of new approaches for the synthesis of new bioactive heterocyclic derivatives is of the utmost importance for pharmaceutical industry. In this regard, the present study reports the green synthesis of new benzaldazine and ketazine derivatives via the condensation of various carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones with the 3-(1-hydrazineylideneethyl)-1H-indole using the grinding method with one drop of acetic acid). Various spectroscopic techniques were used to identify the structures of the synthesized derivatives. Furthermore, the anticancer activities of the reported azine derivatives were evaluated against colon, hepatocellular, and breast carcinoma cell lines using the MTT technique with doxorubicin as a reference medication. The findings suggested that the synthesized derivatives exhibited potential anti-tumor activities toward different cell lines. For example, 3c, 3d, 3h, 9, and 13 exhibited interesting activity with an IC₅₀ value of 4.27–8.15 µM towards the HCT-116 cell line as compared to doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 5.23 ± 0.29 µM). In addition, 3c, 3d, 3h, 9, 11, and 13 showed excellent cytotoxic activities (IC₅₀ = 4.09–9.05 µM) towards the HePG-2 cell line compared to doxorubicin (IC₅₀ = 4.50 ± 0.20 µM), and 3d, 3h, 9, and 13 demonstrated high potency (IC₅₀ = 6.19–8.39 µM) towards the breast cell line (MCF-7) as compared to the reference drug (IC₅₀ = 4.17 ± 0.20 µM). The molecular interactions between derivatives 3a-h, 7, 9, 11, 13, and the CDK-5 enzyme (PDB ID: 3IG7) were studied further using molecular docking indicating a high level of support for the experimental results. Furthermore, the drug-likeness analysis of the reported derivatives indicated that derivative 9 (binding affinity = −8.34 kcal/mol) would have a better pharmacokinetics, drug-likeness, and oral bioavailability as compared to doxorubicin (−7.04 kcal/mol). These results along with the structure–activity relationship (SAR) of the reported derivatives will pave the way for the design of additional azines bearing indole with potential anticancer activities.

A novel water-soluble nanorod is discussed, which is prepared via the self-assembly of pristine C₆₀ and a double-sided porphyrin projecting four β-cyclodextrins from each face.