Author Archive

Synthesis of novel thiadiazole derivatives as selective COX-2 inhibitors – a new HOT article

New, effective and selective COX-2 inhibitors that prevent inflammation have been reported in MedChemComm, in a new HOT article.

Cyclo-oxygenases are enzymes responsible for production of key inflammation-promoting molecules. Most drugs that target COX are non-selective and inhibit both COX-2, present in inflamed tissues, and COX-1, which has important regulatory functions in normal tissues. This can lead to gastro-intestinal side-effects such as ulcers.

Dr Marwa El-Gazzar’s group at the National Centre for Radiation Research and Technology in Cairo synthesized new derivatives of celecoxib, a recently discovered COX-2 selective inhibitor. They tested their effect on COX-2 in vitro to study their structure-activity relationship. Several of the compounds – many of which had sulfonamide moieties – were as effective as celecoxib at inhibiting COX-2, while having no effect on COX-1. These compounds were also the most effective at reducing paw oedema in rat models of inflammation, and had significant analgesic effects – importantly, they were non-toxic and did not cause ulceration.

The designed 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives and their proposed orientation into the selectivity site of COX-2.

The group also performed a molecular docking study to gain insight into the compounds’ inhibition mechanism. The compounds were found to strongly bind to the COX-2 active site, making them more effective. They could also enter a small pocket found only in COX-2 to bind to specific residues there – this gave them their selectivity.

The promising results for the reported compounds, as well as the mechanistic insights gained, could prove invaluable in developing new, selective drugs that can successfully treat inflammation without adverse side effects.


Read the full article here:

Synthesis of novel thiadiazole derivatives as selective COX-2 inhibitors
Fatma A. Ragab, Helmi I. Heiba, Marwa G. El-Gazzar,* Sahar M. Abou-Seri, Walaa A. El-Sabbagh and Reham M. El-Hazek
Med. Chem. Commun., 2016, Advance Article
DOI10.1039/C6MD00367B




Susannah May is a guest web writer for the RSC Journal blogs. She currently works in the Publishing Department of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and has a keen interest in biology and biomedicine, and the frontiers of their intersection with chemistry. She can be found on Twitter using @SusannahCIMay.

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Top 10 reviewers for MedChemComm

In celebration of Peer Review Week, with the theme around Recognition for Review – we would like to highlight the top 10 reviewers for MedChemComm in 2016, as selected by the editor for their significant contribution to the journal.

Name Institution
Dr Sandeep Sundriyal Imperial College London
Dr Abasaheb Dhawane Georgia State University
Dr Xiaoyun Lu Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health
Dr Kazuya Tatani Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Dr Zhenqqiu Li Jinan University
Dr Enas Malik Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universitat Bonn
Dr Yong Xu Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, CAS
Dr Mingxuan Wu John Hopkins School of Medicine
Dr Yves Janin Institut Pasteur
Dr Oleg Tsodikov University of Kentucky

We would like to say a massive thank you to these reviewers as well as the MedChemComm Editorial and Advisory Boards and all of the Medicinal Chemistry community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

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PNA-encoded libraries can selectively identify covalently bound molecules – HOT article

A new way of screening for small molecules using PNA-encoded libraries has been reported in MedChemComm. The technique, by Nicolas Winssinger’s group at the University of Geneva, identifies molecules that bind covalently to specific proteins. It could help to find new potent drugs in future.

DNA or PNA-encoded libraries are becoming a popular technique to easily screen large numbers of small molecules. However, it is often difficult to distinguish covalently binding molecules from those that bind non-covalently but with high affinity. Researchers are especially interested in covalent inhibitors as they permanently deactivate proteins and can make powerful drugs, with examples including aspirin and omeprazole.

Winssinger’s group synthesised two libraries of small molecules that were tagged with PNA “barcodes” and immobilised on a surface to form microarrays. These were incubated with a kinase solution and then washed. The group used a washing procedure which removed kinase bound with high-affinity non-covalent bonds, but left any kinase that was covalently bound to molecules. The DNA-PNA bonds were undamaged by the washing, and allowed easy identification and discrimination of the covalently bound and non-covalently bound molecules.

The method could be combined with other techniques such as next-generation sequencing in future. It promises to be the next step in efficient and rapid drug discovery.


Read the full article here:

Screening for covalent inhibitors using DNA display of small molecule libraries functionalized with cysteine reactive moieties
C. Zambaldo, J.-P. Daguer, J. Saarbach, S. Barluenga and N. Winssinger
Med. Chem. Commun. 2016, 7, 1340-1351

Part of the DNA Encoded Libraries themed collection in MedChemComm.




Susannah May is a guest web writer for the RSC Journal blogs. She currently works in the Publishing Department of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and has a keen interest in biology and biomedicine, and the frontiers of their intersection with chemistry. She can be found on Twitter using @SusannahCIMay.

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What are your colleagues reading in MedChemComm?

The articles below are some of the most read MedChemComm articles in April, May and June 2016.

The discovery of a novel antibiotic for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections: a story of an effective academic–industrial partnership
John Mann, Peter W. Taylor, Colin R. Dorgan, Peter D. Johnson, Francis X. Wilson, Richard Vickers, Aaron G Dale and Stephen Neidle
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00238A, Review Article

Multivalent glycoconjugates as vaccines and potential drug candidates
Sumati Bhatia, Mathias Dimde and Rainer Haag
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00143E, Review Article

Bacterial lipid membranes as promising targets to fight antimicrobial resistance, molecular foundations and illustration through the renewal of aminoglycoside antibiotics and emergence of amphiphilic aminoglycosides
Marie-Paule Mingeot-Leclercq and Jean-Luc Décout
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00503E, Review Article

Surface plasmon resonance for the characterization of bacterial polysaccharide antigens: a review
Barbara Brogioni and Francesco Berti
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00088A, Review Article

Mechanisms of resistance to membrane-disrupting antibiotics in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria
Kfir B. Steinbuch and Micha Fridman
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00389J, Review Article

Towards understanding cell penetration by stapled peptides
Qian Chu, Raymond E. Moellering, Gerard J. Hilinski, Young-Woo Kim, Tom N. Grossmann, Johannes T.-H. Yeh and Gregory L. Verdine
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00131A, Concise Article

Polypharmacology modelling using proteochemometrics (PCM): recent methodological developments, applications to target families, and future prospects
Isidro Cortés-Ciriano, Qurrat Ul Ain, Vigneshwari Subramanian, Eelke B. Lenselink, Oscar Méndez-Lucio, Adriaan P. IJzerman, Gerd Wohlfahrt, Peteris Prusis, Thérèse E. Malliavin, Gerard J. P. van Westen and Andreas Bender
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00216D, Review Article

Covalent tethering of fragments for covalent probe discovery
Stefan G. Kathman and Alexander V. Statsyuk
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00518C, Review Article

Endless resistance. Endless antibiotics?
Jed F. Fisher and Shahriar Mobashery
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00394F, Review Article

Identification of an inhibitor of the ubiquitin–proteasome system that induces accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins in the absence of blocking of proteasome function
Caroline Haglund, Chitralekha Mohanty, Mårten Fryknäs, Padraig D’Arcy, Rolf Larsson, Stig Linder and Linda Rickardson
DOI: 10.1039/C3MD00386H, Concise Article

Structural biology and chemistry of protein arginine methyltransferases
Matthieu Schapira and Renato Ferreira de Freitas
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00269E, Review Article

eCF309: a potent, selective and cell-permeable mTOR inhibitor
Craig Fraser, Neil O. Carragher and Asier Unciti-Broceta
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00493D, Research Article

Mechanisms of resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics: overview and perspectives
Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova and Kristin J. Labby
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00344J, Review Article

The evolution of drug discovery: from phenotypes to targets, and back
Hassan Al-Ali
DOI: 10.1039/C6MD00129G, Review Article

Design and synthesis of potent and selective inhibitors of BRD7 and BRD9 bromodomains
Duncan A. Hay, Catherine M. Rogers, Oleg Fedorov, Cynthia Tallant, Sarah Martin, Octovia P. Monteiro, Susanne Müller, Stefan Knapp, Christopher J. Schofield and Paul E. Brennan
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00152H, Concise Article

Label-free technologies for target identification and validation
Jing Li, Hua Xu, Graham M. West and Lyn H. Jones
DOI: 10.1039/C6MD00045B, Review Article

Ambient mass spectrometry technologies for the detection of falsified drugs
María J. Culzoni, Prabha Dwivedi, Michael D. Green, Paul N. Newton and Facundo M. Fernández
DOI: 10.1039/C3MD00235G, Review Article

2-[18F]Fluoroethyl tosylate – a versatile tool for building 18F-based radiotracers for positron emission tomography
Torsten Kniess, Markus Laube, Peter Brust and Jörg Steinbach
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00303B, Review Article

Rational design of protein–protein interaction inhibitors
Didier Rognan
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00328D, Review Article

Synthesis of α-brominated phosphonates and their application as phosphate bioisosteres
A. Michael Downey and Christopher W. Cairo
DOI: 10.1039/C4MD00255E, Review Article

Thermoresponsive fluorinated small-molecule drugs: a new concept for efficient localized chemotherapy
Catherine M. Clavel, Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska, Emilia Păunescu and Paul J. Dyson
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00409H, Review Article

Targeting the trehalose utilization pathways of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Sandeep Thanna and Steven J. Sucheck
DOI: 10.1039/C5MD00376H, Review Article

Keep up-to-date with the latest issues of MedChemComm by joining our e-alerts.

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RSC Organic Division Poster Symposium 2016

This poster symposium for final year organic chemistry PhD students will take place at The Royal Society of Chemistry at Burlington House, in London, Monday 5 December 2016.

Abstract submission is now open!

The closing date for abstract submissions is Monday 3 October 2016. Get more information or submit an abstract now.

This symposium offers final year PhD students a chance to showcase their research to their peers, leading academics and industrial chemists. It is open to all branches of organic chemistry – in its broadest interpretation – and has a tradition of being the most competitive and highly-regarded organic chemistry symposium for PhD students in the UK and Ireland.

There will be a first prize of £500, two runner-up prizes, and a ‘selected by Industry’ prize. Industrial delegates will select this winner based on the potential for application in an industrial context.

We would like to thank F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd. and our industry sponsors for their generous support of this event.

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‘Microbial protein targets: towards understanding and intervention’ meeting

Microbial protein targets: towards understanding and intervention

14–16 September 2016, Durham, UK

This symposium will bring together leading expertise in protein structure determination, biochemical characterization and chemical biology to explore the most recent advances in the understanding of protein function and inhibition in microbial pathogens – both bacteria and parasites.

An exciting line-up of speakers will present their recent work in the area. Some of the confirmed speakers are:

  • Chris Abell University of Cambridge, UK
  • Gerald Spaeth Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
  • Ed Tate Imperial College London, UK
  • Maria Marco-Martin GSK Tres Contos, Spain

Take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your work alongside leaders in the field and submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation today. Through generous sponsorship from the RSC Chemical Biology Interface Division and the BSP there are bursaries available for early career researchers to support their participation at this meeting.

The oral abstract deadline has just been extended until 15 July 2016, and poster abstracts are welcome until 5 August 2016. For more information and to register please visit the conference webpage.

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2016 RSC Prizes and Awards in Organic Chemistry & Chemical Biology now open for nomination

The 2016 RSC Prizes and Awards are now open for nomination!

Nominations will close on 15 January 2016.


For more than 140 years, our Prizes and Awards programme has been acknowledging and celebrating exceptional talent in the chemical sciences, and with your support we are hoping that 2016 will even more successful!

Last year’s winners include Chemists such as Prof. Wilfred van der Donk (University of Illinois), Prof. Tim Donohoe (University of Oxford), Prof. Shuli You (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry), Prof. Philip Gale (University of Southampton), Prof. Herman Overkleeft (Leiden University), Prof. Alison Ashcroft and Prof. Sheena Radford (University of Leeds).

This year we have 63 prizes and awards open for nominations of individuals, teams and organisations covering the breadth of the chemical sciences across academia, education and industry.

This year’s prizes in the field of Organic Chemistry & Chemical Biology include:

CBID (Chemistry Biology Interface Division) awards –

Organic Awards –

For 2016 our Longstaff Prize is also open – since 1881 we have awarded this prize once every three years to one of our members who has achieved the most to advance the science of chemistry.

Submit your suggestions now!

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