Supramolecular Organocatalysis in Water Mediated by Macrocyclic Compounds
In the last decades many efforts have been devoted to design supramolecular organocatalysts able to work in water as the reaction medium. The use of water as solvent provides promising benefits with respect to environmental impact. In this context, macrocyclic compounds played a role of primary importance thanks to their ease of synthesis and their molecular recognition abilities toward the reactants. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the recent advances in the field of supramolecular organocatalysis in water, focusing the attention on calixarene and cyclodextrins derivatives. Calixarenes and cyclodextrins, thanks to their hydrophobic cavities, are able to host selectively th…
The Hexameric Resorcinarene Capsule as a Brønsted Acid Catalyst for the Synthesis of Bis(heteroaryl)methanes in a Nanoconfined Space
Herein, we show that the hexameric resorcinarene capsule C is able to catalyze the formation of bis(heteroaryl)methanes by reaction between pyrroles or indoles and carbonyl compounds (α-ketoesters or aldehydes) in excellent yields and selectivity. Our results suggest that the capsule can play a double catalytic role as a H-bond catalyst, for the initial activation of the carbonyl substrate, and as a Bronsted acid catalyst, for the dehydration of the intermediate alcohol.
Synthesis and comparison of the antiinflammatory activity of manoalide and cacospongionolide B analogues.
We have synthesized analogues of two naturally occurring antiinflammatory marine compounds, manoalide and cacospongionolide B, containing a pyranofuranone moiety which is considered the pharmacophoric group. The two compounds, and hence their analogues, differ in the presence or absence in the dihydropyran ring of an hemiacetal function which was considered essential to irreversibly inactivate phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ). The two series of compounds were tested for their inhibitory effects on secretory PLA 2 belonging to the groups I, II, and III, and the activities were found to be similar in both series, irrespective of the presence or absence of the additional hemiacetal function. In addi…
Novel Penicillin-Type Analogues Bearing a Variable Substituted 2-Azetidinone Ring at Position 6: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation
The synthesis and the biological activity of novel semi-synthetic β-lactam compounds containing an azetidinone moiety joined to the amino-nitrogen of the (+)-6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) as new antibacterial agents is reported. The synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against a panel of Gram positive and Gram negative pathogens and environmental bacteria. Tested compounds displayed good antimicrobial activity against all tested Gram positive bacteria and for Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis antimicrobial activity resulted higher than that of the reference antibiotic. Additionally, in vitro cytotoxic screening was also carried …