Indazole is considered a very important scaffold in medicinal chemistry. It is commonly found in compounds with diverse biological activities, e.g., antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents. Considering that infectious diseases are associated to an inflammatory response, we designed a set of 2H-indazole derivatives by hybridization of cyclic systems commonly found in antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory compounds. The derivatives were synthesized and tested against selected intestinal and vaginal pathogens, including the protozoa Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba histolytica, and Trichomonas vaginalis; the bacteria Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi; and the yeasts Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. Biological evaluations revealed that synthesized compounds have antiprotozoal activity and, in most cases, are more potent than the reference drug metronidazole, e.g., compound 18 is 12.8 times more active than metronidazole against G. intestinalis. Furthermore, two 2,3-diphenyl-2H-indazole derivatives (18 and 23) showed in vitro growth inhibition against Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. In addition to their antimicrobial activity, the anti-inflammatory potential for selected compounds was evaluated in silico and in vitro against human cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). The results showed that compounds 18, 21, 23, and 26 display in vitro inhibitory activity against COX-2, whereas docking calculations suggest a similar binding mode as compared to rofecoxib, the crystallographic reference.

The CH(2)Cl(2)-MeOH (1:1) extract of the leaves of Hintonia standleyana and H. latiflora caused significant decrease in blood glucose levels in both normal and streptozotozin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats when compared with vehicle-treated groups (p < 0.05). These extracts were not toxic to mice according to the Lorke criteria. From the hypoglycemic extract of H. standleyana, two new 4-phenylcoumarins, namely, 6''-O-acetyl-5-O-beta-d-galactopyranosyl-7,4'-dihydroxy-4-phenylcoumarin (1) and 6''-O-acetyl-5-O-beta-d-galactopyranosyl-7,3',4'-trihydroxy-4-phenylcoumarin (2), were obtained. The analogous extract of H. latiflora yielded the new 5-O-[beta-d-xylopyranosyl-(1-->6)-beta-d-glucopyranosyl]-7,4'-dimethoxy-4-phenylcoumarin (3) along with several known compounds, including ursolic acid and desoxycordifolinic acid. Phenylcoumarins 1 and 2 showed hypoglycemic activity. HPLC profiles of the leaf extracts of both plants revealed the presence of known hypoglycemic phenylcoumarins as well as chlorogenic acid. The overall results have indicated that the leaves of H. standleyana and H. latiflora possess similar antidiabetic potential to their stem bark. Therefore, the leaves from these species could represent an alternative to the use of their stem bark, which, in turn, would contribute to the conservation of these Mexican medicinal plants.

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Curcumin (1) and ten derivatives (2–11) were synthesized and evaluated as cytotoxic and antioxidant agents. The results of primary screening by Sulforhodamine B assay against five human cancer cell lines (U-251 MG, glioblastoma; PC-3, human prostatic; HCT-15, human colorectal; K562, human chronic myelogenous leukemia; and SKLU-1, non-small cell lung cancer) allowed us to calculate the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values for the more active compounds against HCT-15 and K562 cell lines. Compounds 2 and 10 were the most active against both cell lines and were more active than curcumin itself. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay showed that 7 has potent activity; even stronger than curcumin, α-tocopherol, and quercetin.