Metal chelators can be potentially employed in the treatment of various diseases, ranging from metal overload to neoplastic conditions. Some xanthene derivatives were previously reported to complex metals. Thus, in a search for a novel iron or copper chelator, a series of 9-(substituted phenyl)-2,6,7-trihydroxy-xanthene-3-ones was tested using a competitive spectrophotometric approach. The most promising compound was evaluated in biological models (breast adenocarcinoma cell lines and erythrocytes). In general, substitution of the benzene ring in position 9 had a relatively low effect on the chelation. Only the trifluoromethyl substitution resulted in stronger chelation, probably via a positive effect on solvation. All compounds chelated iron, but their copper-chelating effect was only minimal, since it was no longer observed under highly competitive conditions. Interestingly, all compounds reduced both iron and copper. Additional experiments showed that the trifluoromethyl derivative protected erythrocytes and even cancer cells against excess copper. In summary, the tested compounds are iron chelators, which are also capable of reducing iron/copper, but the copper-reducing effect is not associated with increased copper toxicity.

The pyrimidine heterocycle plays an important role in anticancer research. In particular, the pyrimidine derivative families of uracil show promise as structural scaffolds relevant to cervical cancer. This group of chemicals lacks data-driven machine learning quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) that allow for generalization and predictive capabilities in the search for new active compounds. To achieve this, a dataset of pyrimidine and uracil compounds from ChEMBL were collected and curated. A workflow was developed for data-driven machine learning QSAR using an intuitive dataset design and forwards selection of molecular descriptors. The model was thoroughly externally validated against available data. Blind validation was also performed by synthesis and antiproliferative evaluation of new synthesized uracil-based and pyrimidine derivatives. The most active compound among new synthesized derivatives, 2,4,5-trisubstituted pyrimidine was predicted with the QSAR model with differences of 0.02 compared to experimentally tested activity.

Antitumor activity of two newly and sixteen previously synthesized 9-arylsubstituted 2,6,7-trihydroxyxanthene-3-ones on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells were analyzed in this study. Xanthene derivatives are characterized with numerous therapeutic...

Although COVID-19 is not a pandemic anymore, the virus frequently mutates, resulting in new strains and presenting global public health challenges. The lack of oral antiviral drugs makes it difficult to treat him, which makes the creation of broadly acting antivirals necessary to fight current and next epidemics of viruses. Using the molecular docking approach, 118 compounds derived from marine organisms and 92 previously synthesized compounds were screened to assess their binding affinity for the main protease and papain-like protease enzymes of SARS-CoV-2. The best candidates from the xanthene, benzoxazole, and coumarin classes were identified. Marine-derived compounds showed slightly better potential as enzyme inhibitors, though the binding affinities of synthesized compounds were similar, with the best candidates displaying affinity values between 0.2 and 0.4 mM. Xanthenes, among both marine origin and synthesized compounds, emerged as the most promising scaffolds for further research as inhibitors. The papain-like protease was found to be more druggable than the main protease. Additionally, all top candidates met the criteria for various drug-likeness properties, indicating good oral bioavailability and low risk of adverse effects. This research provides valuable insights into the comparative affinities of marine origin and synthesized compounds from the xanthene, coumarin, and benzoxazole classes, highlighting promising candidates for further in vitro and in vivo studies.

Four 4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives were synthesized and the structure was confirmed by NMR spectroscopy and Mass spectrometry. Tested compounds have shown significant antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis subsp. spizizenii, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis, and the effect of more halogens on the benzene nucleus, as well as the combination of halogen and alkyl groups, on the antimicrobial activity, was investigated. According to the docking study, these compounds can operate simultaneously on two enzymes, amylase and gyrase (1BAG and 1KZN), which are known to play an important role in bacterial life. Obtained docking study parameters for tested compounds showed an association with the in vitro results of the antimicrobial activity of these compounds. In silico tests of molecular properties of the tested compounds showed that the compounds met Lipinski's rule of five. In this paper, the ADME parameters of tested compounds were also calculated: Caco2 (in vitro Caco2 cell permeability), HIA (human intestinal absorption), MDCK (in vitro Mandin Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell permeability), TPSA (topological polar surface area), etc.