Brown Seaweed-Derived Alginic Acid: An Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Pictet-Spengler Reaction to Access Tetrahydro-β-Carboline and Tetrahydroisoquinoline Frameworks

An efficient, recyclable and biocompatible alginic acid catalyst has been identified for the Pictet-Spengler reaction in the construction of tetrahydro-β-carboline and tetrahydroisoquinoline frameworks. The optimized protocol was suitable with various substrates, including −CN, −NO₂ and −CF₃ substitutions with different electronic characteristics. The method was applied to synthesize natural product (±)-coerulescine and spiro-oxindole framework. Remarkably, the catalyst showed efficient reusability without deteriorating the reaction yields.

[Research Articles]
Jay Prakash Soni, Dr. Manda Sathish, Dr. Fabiane M. Nachtigall, Dr. Leonardo S. Santos, Dr. Nagula Shankaraiah
doi.org/10.1002/ajoc.202200129

Chiral Assembly and Recognition of Seven Copper (II) Coordination Polymers from Tartaric Acid Derivative Ligands

Seven new copper (II) CPs were obtained through assemblies of a new pair of tartaric acid derivative ligands (R,R)-L and (S,S)-L with different copper metal salts. Among them, 1 a with a chiral helical structure can be used as a chiral circular dichroism probe for detecting configuration and concentration of cysteine and penicillamine via a ligand exchange recognition mechanism.

[Research Articles]
Zong-Ying Li, Bin Yuan, Hai-Xian Wang, Tian-Sheng He, Yan-Long Lan, Si-Yu Wang, Prof. Dr. Li-Na Zhu, Prof. Dr. DeMing Kong, Prof. Dr. Xiao-Zeng Li
doi.org/10.1002/asia.202200263

Synthesis of Novel Glycolipid Mimetics of Heparan Sulfate and Their Application in Colorectal Cancer Treatment in a Mouse Model

Here we report the synthesis of library of single-entity trimer heparan sulfate-based glycolipids with low nanomolar IC₅₀ potency for heparanase inhibition. Simplification of structures when one dendrimer arms is removed and replaced with fatty acids did not cause a substantial decrease in activity in cell-based assays. In vivo studies confirmed that lead compound Tet-29 is strikingly effective in a mouse model of colorectal cancer.

[Research Articles]
Sam Spijkers-Shaw, Dr. Katrin Campbell, Dr. Nicholas J. Shields, Prof. John H. Miller, Dr. Phillip M. Rendle, Dr. Wanting Jiao, Prof. Sarah L. Young, Dr. Olga V. Zubkova
doi.org/10.1002/asia.202200228