18605-40-8

Upstream product

• 314-19-2 (±)-apomorphine hydrochloride 
• 314-19-2 apomorphine hydrochloride 

Relevant academic research and scientific papers

Investigation of the inhibitory mechanism of apomorphine against MDM2–p53 interaction

Mirror-image screening using D-proteins is a powerful approach to provide mirror-image structures of chiral natural products for drug screening. During the course of our screening study for novel MDM2–p53 interaction inhibitors, we identified that NPD6878 (R-(?)-apomorphine) inhibited both the native L-MDM2–L-p53 interaction and the mirror-image D-MDM2–D-p53 interaction at equipotent doses. In addition, both enantiomers of apomorphine showed potent inhibitory activity against the native MDM2–p53 interaction. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory mechanism of both enantiomers of apomorphine against the MDM2–p53 interaction. Achiral oxoapomorphine, which was converted from chiral apomorphines under aerobic conditions, served as the reactive species to form a covalent bond at Cys77 of MDM2, leading to the inhibitory effect against the binding to p53.

Opposite vascular activity of (R)-apomorphine and its oxidised derivatives. Endothelium-dependent vasoconstriction induced by the auto-oxidation metabolite

We have synthetised a series of oxidised apomorphine derivatives (orto and para quinones 2-5), in order to analyse their vascular activity. We have performed radioligand binding assays on rat cortical membranes and functional studies on rat aortic rings. Instead the relaxant activity exhibited by (R)-apomorphine, o-quinones 2, 4, show contractile activity dependent on endothelium in rat aortic rings. Compound 2, the main metabolite of (R)-apomorphine auto-oxidation, was the product which showed enhanced contractile activity by a complex mechanism related to activation of Ca2+ channels through release and/or inhibition of endothelial factors. Moreover, this compound disrupts the endothelial function as shows the lack of response to acetylcholine observed in vessels pretreated with it.

Mechanistic analyses of the suppression of amyloid β42 aggregation by apomorphine

(R)-Apomorphine (1) has the potential to reduce the accumulation of amyloid β-protein (Aβ42), a causative agent of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although the inhibition of Aβ42 aggregation by 1 is ascribable to the antioxidative effect of its phenol moiety, its inhibitory mechanism at the molecular level remains to be fully elucidated. LC–MS and UV analyses revealed that 1 is autoxidized during incubation to produce an unstable o-quinone form (2), which formed a Michael adduct with Lys 16 and 28 of Aβ42. A further autoxidized form of 1 (3) with o-quinone and phenanthrene moieties suppressed Aβ42 aggregation comparable to 1, whereas treating 1 with a reductant, tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine diminished its inhibitory activity. 1H-15N SOFAST-HMQC NMR studies suggested that 1 interacts with Arg5, His13,14, Gln15, and Lys16 of the Aβ42 monomer. These regions form intermolecular β-sheets in Aβ42 aggregates. Since 3 did not perturb the chemical shift of monomeric Aβ42, we performed aggregation experiments using 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol-treated Aβ42 to investigate whether 3 associates with Aβ42 oligomers. Compounds 1 and 3 delayed the onset of the oligomer-driven nucleation phase. Despite their cytotoxicity, they did not exacerbate Aβ42-mediated neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. These results demonstrate that extension of the conjugated system in 1 by autoxidation can promote its planarity, which is required for intercalation into the β-sheet of Aβ42 nuclei, thereby suppressing further aggregation.

Extensive study of the autooxidation products of apomorphine and its pharmacologically active derivatives

The autooxidation phenomenon of apomorphine and the products of this procedure were analytically and pharmacologically studied, however we found that there have been some unclarified details of this filed. Therefore the synthesis and structure of the autooxidation products of three clinically and pharmacologically relevant aporphinoids (apomoprine, N-propyl-norapomorphine and 2-hydroxy-N-propyl-norapomorphine) were thoroughly investigated. The autooxidation of apomorphine achieved at physiological pH resulted two products; one of them is the known tetracyclic, tertiary amino ortho quinone and the hitherto unknown, fluorescent, derivatized phenanthrene-3,4-quinone. Under the same conditions N-propyl congeners resulted only the expected 1,2-dione products. The analytical structure elucidation involved the full 1H and 13C NMR assignment, UV and IR characterizations of the four isolated ortho quinone-type products exploiting the possibilities of DFT calculations for geometry optimization, NMR and IR simulations. The phenanthrene-3,4-quinone compound can be relevant in further pharmacological studies of aporphine-related oxidation products due to its potential toxicity and investigated fluorescent character.