Chrysin is a 5,7-dihydroxyflavone and was recently shown to potently inhibit enterovirus 71 (EV71) by suppressing viral 3C protease (3Cpro) activity. In the current study, we investigated whether chrysin also shows antiviral activity against coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), which belongs to the same genus (Enterovirus) as EV71, and assessed its ability to prevent the resulting acute pancreatitis and myocarditis. We found that chrysin showed antiviral activity against CVB3 at 10 μM, but exhibited mild cellular cytotoxicity at 50 μM, prompting us to synthesize derivatives of chrysin to increase the antiviral activity and reduce its cytotoxicity. Among four 4-substituted benzyl derivatives derived from C(5) benzyl-protected derivatives 7, 9–11 had significant antiviral activity and showed the most potent activity against CVB3 with low cytotoxicity in Vero cells. Intraperitoneal injection of CVB3 in BALB/c mice with 1×106 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infective dose) of CVB3 induced acute pancreatitis with ablation of acinar cells and increased serum CXCL1 levels, whereas the daily administration of 9 for 5 days significantly alleviated the pancreatic inflammation and reduced the elevation in serum CXCL1 levels. Collectively, we assessed the anti-CVB3 activities of chrysin and its derivatives, and found that among 4-substituted benzyl derivatives, 9 exhibited the highest activity against CVB3 in vivo, and protected mice from CVB3-induced pancreatic damage, simultaneously lowering serum CXCL1 levels.

The concise, highly stereoselective, substrate-controlled asymmetric total syntheses of both 2,5-cis- and 2,5-trans-tetrahydrofuranoid nematocidal oxylipids from the Australian brown algae Notheia anomala have been accomplished in a stereodivergent fashion. The highly stereoselective intramolecular amide enolate alkylation strategy provides access to both stereoisomers of the 3-hydroxy-2,5-disubstituted tetrahydrofuran core of these marine natural products through chelate and nonchelate control, which is driven by the C3-hydroxy protecting group. This approach offers an optional and highly stereoelective access to any of the eight possible stereoisomers of the 2,5-disubstituted-3-oxygenated tetrahydrofuran skeleton, an important structural feature which is present in many biologically active natural products.

Total synthesis of (±)-decytospolides A and B have been accomplished by an efficient and stereoselective construction of 2,6-cistetrahydropyrans by an intramolecular oxa-conjugate addition reaction.

This first asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-srilankenyne (1), a halogenated C15 tetrahydropyran acetogenin isolated from Aplysia oculifera, features a sequence-sensitive process guided by conformational analysis to solve the challenging problem of introducing halogens. A competing semipinacol rearrangement during the installation of C(12)-bromide was suppressed by our A1,3 strain-controlled bromination protocol with support from X-ray crystallographic and computational studies. The C(10)-chloride was then placed by the Nakata chloromesylate-mediated chlorination.

The derivatives of macakurzin C containing a modified D ring and protected C(3)/C(5)-hydroxyl groups were synthesized and their in vitro AChE inhibitory activity and neurotoxicity were evaluated to identify the structural requirements for the activities. The results indicated that C(3)-benzyl-protected derivative has a more potent AChE inhibitory activity (IC50, 2.6 μM) and a less neurotoxicity (GI50, >100 μM) than synthetic macakurzin C (IC50, 9.1 μM; GI50, 16.6 μM).

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A concise synthesis of sericetin (1) was performed in four steps from readily available 3-Obenzylgalangin (4), featuring electrocyclization to produce the tricyclic core and a sequential aromatic Claisen/Cope rearrangement to incorporate the 8-prenyl group of 1. In addition, the therapeutic potential of sericetin (1), isosericetin (2), and three prenylated tetracyclic synthetic intermediates (11, 12, and 14) against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity using renal tubular cells were evaluated. Compound 14 showed therapeutic potential against cisplatin-induced kidney damage.P renylated flavonoids are a subclass of flavonoids that possess a wide range of biological properties, such as antioxidant, anticancer, antifungal, and estrogenic activities. 1 The addition of a lipophilic prenyl group to these flavonoids could increase their lipophilicity, thereby increasing their permeabilities and bioavailabilities in vivo. 2 Sericetin (1), a prenylated flavonoid, was first isolated from the root-bark of Mundulea sericea in 1960 (Figure 1). This

The highly stereoselective construction of C2-symmetric cis,cis- and trans,trans-2,6-dioxabicyclo[3.3.0]octane (fused bis-tetrahydrofuran) skeletons 4a and 4b has been accomplished via a novel stereodivergent double intramolecular amide enolate alkylation of common cyclization substrate 5 through the judicious choice of “chelate” versus crown ether-promoted “nonchelate” control. Application of this methodology has provided access to substrate-controlled concise total syntheses of (+)-laurenidificin (3) and (+)-aplysiallene (ent-2), which possess cis/cis- and trans/trans-fused bis-tetrahydrofuran cores, respectively.