Abstract An efficient method to directly catalyze asymmetric para C–H aminoalkylation of aniline derivatives to prepare chiral diarylmethylamine system was developed. Aniline derivatives underwent an enantioselective aminoalkylation in the presence of chiral phosphoric acid, affording a series of optically active diarylmethylamine products in good yields and enantioselectivities (73% yield, 91% ee). Furthermore, this method could be used to prepare the key intermediate of chiral drug levocetirizine.
As a common fragrance ingredient, α-ionone is widely used in cosmetics, perfume, and hygiene products. Nevertheless, little information is available for its biological activities on the skin. In this study, we investigated the effect of α-ionone on keratinocyte functions associated with skin barrier repair and further evaluated its skin barrier recovery capacity to explore its therapeutic potential for the treatment of skin barrier disruption.The effect of α-ionone on the keratinocyte functions including cell proliferation, migration, and production of hyaluronic acid (HA) and human β-defensin-2 (HBD-2) were examined in vitro using human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) as experimental model. The barrier recovery effects of topical hydrogels containing 0.1% or 1% α-ionone were tested on the volar forearm of 31 healthy volunteers by measuring transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and stratum corneum (SC) hydration following barrier disruption induced by repeated tape-stripping. The statistical significance was evaluated by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by a Dunnett's post-hoc test.α-ionone promoted HaCaT cell proliferation (P<0.01) dose-dependently in the 10 to 50 µM range. Meanwhile, it also increased the intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels (P<0.05). Furthermore, HaCaT cells treated with α-ionone (10, 25, 50 µM) showed enhanced cell migration (P<0.05), up-regulated gene expression of hyaluronic acid synthases 2 (HAS2) (P<0.05), HAS3 (P<0.01), and HBD-2 (P<0.05), and enhanced production of HA (P<0.01) and HBD-2 (P<0.05) in the culture supernatant. These beneficial actions of α-ionone were abrogated by cAMP inhibitor, suggesting that its effects are cAMP-mediated in HaCaT cells. In vivo study showed that topical application of α-ionone-containing hydrogels accelerated the epidermal barrier recovery of human skin after barrier disruption by tape stripping. Treatment with hydrogel containing 1% α-ionone resulted in a significant increase of above 15% in the barrier recovery rate at day 7 post-treatment when compared to the vehicle control (P<0.01).These results demonstrated the role of α-ionone in the improvement of keratinocyte functions and the epidermal barrier recovery. These findings suggest possible therapeutic application of α-ionone in the treatment of skin barrier disruption.
Phytochemical investigation into the whole plants of Chloranthus japonicus Sieb.led to isolation and identification of a new dimeric lindenane sesquiterpenoid, named chlojapolactone B (1), and two new phenolic derivatives (2 and 3).Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of HRESIMS and NMR spectroscopic data, and the absolute configuration of 1 was determined using the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis.
Comprehensive Summary Chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed the regio‐ and enantioselective N—H functionalization of N ‐alkylaniline with pyrazolones derived ketimines as electrophiles, providing a variety of chiral pyrazolones containing a tetrasubstituted stereocenter bearing a new N , N ’‐acetal motif in excellent yields and high enantioselectivities. This strategy was featured by low catalyst loading, mild conditions, and high efficiency and selectivity.
Although the cancer immunotherapy represents one of the most promising strategies for cancer treatment, the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, which involves a receptor-ligand interaction, can induced immunosuppression by disabling tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). In the present study, we coupled a PD-L1 (Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1) recognizable peptide DPPA-1 to the sequence of CGKRK, a namely tumor vasculature affinity peptide, to form a new molecule CD peptide. Thereafter, the paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded PCL nanoparticles were developed and modified with the above newly synthesized CD molecules for tumor cells and angiogenesis dual targeting drug delivery. Results of cellular experiments showed that the prepared nanoparticles have a high affinity to both tumor vasculature endothelial cells and tumor cells, which leads to an improved cytotoxicity to cancer cells and inhibition for angiogenesis. In addition, results of in vivo imaging assay exhibited a super tumor targeting efficacy for the CD peptide decorated nanoplatforms. Finally, the pharmacodynamic evaluation was performed and results shown that the tumor-bearing mice treated with CD-NP-PTX achieved the longest medium survival time when compared with others. Simultaneously, different nanoparticles un-loaded with drugs were also subjected to anti-tumor effect studies. Results demonstrated that the mice administrated with D-NP displayed a significantly higher ability of tumor growth inhibition when compared with the NP or C-NP, indicating a super blocking effect of PD-1/PD-L1 pathway for the DPPA-1 peptide. Collectively, these results indicated that the fabricated CD-NP-PTX holds great potential in improving the tumor-targeting drug delivery efficacy and anti-glioma effect.