18073-34-2

Ellipticine has been shown previously to exhibit excellent in vitro antiplasmodial activity and in vivo antimalarial properties that are comparable to those of the control drug chloroquine in a mouse malaria model. Ellipticine derivatives and analogs exhibit antimalarial potential however only a few have been studied to date. Herein, ellipticine and a structural analog were isolated from Aspidosperma vargasii bark. A-ring brominated and nitrated ellipticine derivatives exhibit good in vitro inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum K1 and 3D7 strains. Several of the compounds were found not to be toxic to human fetal lung fibroblasts. 9-Nitroellipticine (IC50 = 0.55 μM) exhibits greater antiplasmodial activity than ellipticine. These results are further evidence of the antimalarial potential of ellipticine derivatives.

Ellipticine has been shown previously to exhibit excellent in vitro antiplasmodial activity and in vivo antimalarial properties that are comparable to those of the control drug chloroquine in a mouse malaria model. Ellipticine derivatives and analogs exhibit antimalarial potential however only a few have been studied to date. Herein, ellipticine and a structural analog were isolated from Aspidosperma vargasii bark. A-ring brominated and nitrated ellipticine derivatives exhibit good in vitro inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum K1 and 3D7 strains. Several of the compounds were found not to be toxic to human fetal lung fibroblasts. 9-Nitroellipticine (IC50 = 0.55 μM) exhibits greater antiplasmodial activity than ellipticine. These results are further evidence of the antimalarial potential of ellipticine derivatives.

d-Alanine:d-alanine ligase (Ddl), an intracellular bacterial enzyme essential for cell wall biosynthesis, is an attractive target for development of novel antimicrobial drugs. This study focused on an extensive evaluation of two families of Ddl inhibitors encountered in our previous research. New members of both families were obtained through similarity search and synthesis. Ellipticines and 9-acridinylamines were both found to possess inhibitory activity against Ddl from Escherichia coli and antimicrobial activity against E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Ellipticines with a quaternary methylpyridinium moiety were the most potent among all studied compounds, with MIC values as low as 2 mg/L in strains with intact efflux mechanisms. Antimicrobial activity of the studied compounds was connected to membrane damage, making their development as antibacterial drug candidates unlikely unless analogues devoid of this nonspecific effect can be discovered.

The long-lasting problematic low yield in the D-ring cyclization of ellipticine (1a) was dramatically improved through N-(1,4-dimethylcarbazol-3- ylmethyl)-N-tosylaminoacetaldehyde diethyl acetal with microwave irradiation. The overall yield of 1a starting from indole was significantly increased by 25-fold. This new approach is superior to reported methods in yields and, reaction time, and it provides efficient access to a broad spectrum of ellipticine derivatives.

Three ellipticine-estradiol conjugates were synthesized in an effort to target the cytotoxicity of ellipticine to estrogen-receptor positive cells. The three conjugates were prepared with linker chains extending from the 17α position of the estradiol to N-2 (compound 3), N-6 (compound 4), and C- 9 (compound 5) positions of ellipticine. The ellipticine-estradiol conjugates were evaluated for their abilities to bind to estrogen receptors, to inhibit topoisomerase II, and for their cytotoxicities in human cancer cell lines. Conjugates 3 and 5 displayed weak binding affinities of 0.132 and 0.303 for the estrogen receptor (relative to estradiol = 100), while conjugate 4 did not show any detectable binding to the estrogen receptor. Compound 3 was a moderate inhibitor of topoisomerase II (IC50 24.1 μM), while 4 and 5 were inactive. Conjugate 3 was consistently more cytotoxic (GI50 values 1-10 μM) than compounds 4 and 5 (GI50 values 10-100 μM) in a variety of human cancer cell lines. None of the compounds displayed any selectivity for estrogen-receptor positive cell lines, which probably reflects their weak affinities for estrogen receptors.