Synthesis and studies of natural products with biological activity

Abstract

This research project has the general objectives: (a) to study the development of new synthetic methods for the preparation of various biologically active natural products; (b) to analyze by spectrometry (NMR, IR, GC/MS, LC/MS and HRMS) all the reaction intermediates and final products obtained; (c) to study using computational methods the conformational properties of the reaction intermediates and final products.In the first phase of this work were prepared several different natural products and synthetic analogues. Currently, synthetic studies are being conducted in order to optimize the reaction yields and to obtain new derivatives of the natural products of interest, so that it can perform the necessary spectrometric analysis and test their biological properties. These biological studies are being conducted in collaboration with researchers of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto - USP and the Institute of Physics of São Carlos - USP. Among the several natural products that are being studied are the lignan lactones, which have attracted great interest because of its important and diverse biological properties; some natural butyrolactone autoregulators, isolated from some strains of bacteria, which have the property of control the morphological differentiation and induce the production of antibiotics; and some new ligands for nuclear receptors of thyroid hormones. The synthetic strategies used in this research project involving several steps, whose performance certainly contribute to the generation of new knowledge, in addition to the training of various students of scientific initiation, master and doctorate.The synthesized lignan lactones are subjected to tests "in vitro" and "in vivo" to determine the activities analgesic, anti-inflammatory and tripanocidal, among others. These biological tests are conducted under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sérgio de Albuquerque, of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto - USP. The project about the synthesis of new ligands for nuclear receptors of thyroid hormones have the effective collaboration of Prof. Dr. Igor Polikarpov, of Crystallography Group of the Institute of Physics of São Carlos - USP, which is responsible for the studies of medicinal chemistry, biological tests, crystallization and determination of the structures of proteins containing the synthesized ligands, to identify their potential agonist and/or antagonist effects. Despite the obvious importance of these natural products and their derivatives, little is known about the reactivity and stability of these compounds, since there is a small number of studies about the molecular and electronic structures of such compounds. Because of this, we should perform alongside some QSAR and molecular modeling studies for analyzing the conformations and electronic structure of these molecules. With these studies are expected to get more information about the compounds of interest, to aid in the development of new synthetic alternatives for the preparation of natural products, and contribute to a better understanding of its biological activities. (AU)