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Virtual events are flourishing with the world lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the cancelation or postponement of scheduled physical meetings, a revolution in medicinal chemistry scientific meetings occurred, leading to an increase in new strategies to share science. One example are online events, namely e-schools or webinars. Taking this into consideration, we decided to promote the MedChemTrain e-School 2020, a virtual event aiming to bring together the scientific community and share some updates in the medicinal chemistry field. After organizing this free event, with more than 1.4 thousand participants worldwide, we decided to share some insights about the logistics behind organizing a virtual symposium to help scientists with this new challenge in science communication.

We report the synthesis of 3-hydroxyl-2-naphthoylhydrazones containing pyrrole (HL1), furane (HL2) and thiophene (HL3) moieties and their V(IV)O-, Cu(II)- and Zn(II)-complexes. All compounds are characterized by the usual analytical techniques and coordination of the ligands to the metal ions is discussed based on spectroscopic data (FTIR, UV-vis, EPR and NMR) as well as CAMB3LYP DFT/TDDFT calculations, indicating the formation of neutral ML2 type complexes. The photophysical properties of ligands and complexes are disclosed. The binding to Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) is evaluated in detail using several spectroscopic tools. Circular dichroism shows that the compounds, and particularly the ligand precursors, stabilize BSA, increasing its a-helical content. Fluorescence studies indicate the formation of 1 : 1 protein-compound adducts, which is corroborated by molecular docking studies that show the interaction between Trp 213 of BSA and the naphthalene rings. The general toxicity is evaluated using the Artemia salina lethality assay, with all compounds showing general toxicity towards the brine shrimp model. The cytotoxicity on human cancer cells (H1299, MCF7, and HCT116) is assessed for all compounds and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values are in the range from 0.57 to 27.35 mu M. Compounds containing L-1 (pyrrole derivative) are the most cytotoxic, with the vanadium and zinc complexes performing better than the copper ones, and some of them depicting IC50 values lower than 1.1 mM. However, selectivity needs improvement as the compounds show toxicity towards Artemia salina and normal fibroblasts. Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT)Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/QUI/00100/2019, UID/MULTI/04349/2013, UID/BIO/04565/2013, RECI/QEQ-QIN/0189/2012, RECI/QEQ-MED/0330/2012, UID/DTP/04567/2016] Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa [LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-007317] [UID/04138/2019] [SAICTPAC/0019/2015] [PTDC/QUI-QAN/32242/2017] [PD/BD/128320/2017] [SFRH/BD/135797/2018] [SFRH/BPD/107834/2015] [UID/QUI/50006/2019] [RECI/BBB-BEP/0124/2012] [UID/DTP/04567/2019] [SFRH/BD/119144/2016] info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The role of metalloproteinases (MMPs) on the migration and invasion of cancer cells has been correlated with tumor aggressiveness, namely with the up-regulation of MMP-2 and 9. Herein, two pyridine-containing macrocyclic compounds, [15]pyN5 and [16]pyN5, were synthesized, chemically characterized and evaluated as potential MMP inhibitors for breast cancer therapy using 3D and 2D cellular models. [15]pyN5 and [16]pyN5 (5&ndash, 20 &micro, M) showed a marked inhibition of MMPs activity (100% at concentrations &ge, 7.5 &mu, M) when compared to ARP-100, a known MMP inhibitor. The inhibitory activity of [15]pyN5 and [16]pyN5 was further supported through in silico docking studies using Goldscore and ChemPLP scoring functions. Moreover, although no significant differences were observed in the invasion studies in the presence of all MMPs inhibitors, cell migration was significantly inhibited by both pyridine-containing macrocycles at concentrations above 5 &mu, M in 2D cells (p &lt, 0.05). In spheroids, the same effect was observed, but only with [16]pyN5 at 20 &mu, M and ARP-100 at 40 &mu, M. Overall, [15]pyN5 and [16]pyN5 led to impaired breast cancer cell migration and revealed to be potential inhibitors of MMPs 2 and 9.

Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T11:09:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-03-01 Schiff bases (SB) obtained from S-methyl dithiocarbazate and aromatic aldehydes: salicylaldehyde (H2L1), o-vanillin (H2L2), pyridoxal (H2L3) and 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol (H3L4), and their corresponding Zn(II)-complexes (1–4), are synthesized. All compounds are characterized by elemental analyses, infrared, UV–Vis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The structures of H2L2 and [Zn2(L1)2(H2O)(DMF)] (1a) (DMF = dimethylformamide) are solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The SB coordinates the metal center through the Ophenolate, Nimine and Sthiolate atoms. The radical scavenging activity is tested using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, with all ligand precursors showing IC50 values ~40 μM. Cytotoxicity studies with several tumor cell lines (PC-3, MCF-7 and Caco-2) as well as a non-tumoral cell line (NHDF) are reported. Interestingly, 1 has relevant and selective antiproliferative effect against Caco-2 cells (IC50 = 9.1 μM). Their antimicrobial activity is evaluated in five bacterial strains (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) and two yeast strains (Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis) with some compounds showing bacteriostatic and fungicidal activity. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC90) of HnL against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is also reported, with H2L2 and H3L4 showing very high activity (MIC90 < 0.6 μg/mL). The ability of the compounds to bind bovine serum albumin (BSA) and DNA is evaluated for H3L4 and [Zn2(L4)(CH3COO)] (4), both showing high binding constants to BSA (ca. 106 M−1) and ability to bind DNA. Overall, the reported compounds show relevant antitumor and antimicrobial properties, our data indicating they may be promising compounds in several fields of medicinal chemistry. Centro de Química Estrutural and Departamento de Engenharia Química Instituto Superior Técnico Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento (iMed.ULisboa) Faculdade de Farmácia Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto Departamento de Química e Farmácia Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas UNESP, C.P.582 LAQV-REQUIMTE – Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde Departamento de Química Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade NOVA de Lisboa Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit – UCIBIO Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade NOVA de Lisboa CICS-UBI - Health Sciences Research Centre University of Beira Interior, Av. Infante D. Henrique Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas UNESP, C.P.582

A series of para-tert-butylcalix[4]arene containing amide macrocyclic and acyclic derivatives at the lower rim are synthesized in this paper and their cellular effects are evaluated. G-quadruplex interaction and stabilization are assessed with compound calix-NH2 to relate it strong antiproliferative effect on cancer cell lines with G-quadruplex recognition. The calix-NH2 interact and stabilize the G-quadruplexes MYC22 and h22L and show activity in MCF-7, LNCaP, U87 cancer cell lines at low micromolar range of concentrations.