A one‐pot, transition‐metal‐free, domino Michael/SNAr protocol of general applicability has been devised for the regioselective synthesis of polyfunctional naphthalenes by employing nitromethane and ortho‐haloaryl ynones. Utilization of nitromethane as a one carbon carbanion source that is incorporated into a variety of ynones, ends up as an aromatic nitro substituent. The application of this domino process towards a total synthesis of the polycyclic alkaloid macarpine demonstrate for the efficacy of this methodology. The conceptually simple approach to affect regioselective, multifunctional benzoannulation of ynones displays wide substrate scope and functional‐group tolerance and has been implemented with substituted nitromethanes, as well as with alicyclic o‐haloynones.
In search for drugs to treat neuropsychiatric disorders wherein neurotrophic and neurogenic properties are affected, two neurotrophically active small molecules specially crafted following natural product leads based on 2-oxa-spiro[5.5]-undecane scaffold, have been thoroughly evaluated for their neurotrophic, neurogenic and neuroprotective potential in ex vivo primary culture and in vivo zebrafish and mouse models. The outcome of in vivo investigations suggest that one of these molecules is more neurotrophic than neurogenic while the other one is more neurogenic than neurotrophic and the former exhibits remarkable neuroprotection in a mouse acute ischemic stroke model. The molecular mechanisms of action of these compounds appear to be through the TrkB-MEK-ERK-CREB-BDNF pathway as pre-treatment with neurotrophin receptor TrkB inhibitor ANA-12 and MEK inhibitor PD98059 attenuates the neurotrophic action of compounds.
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