A molecular modeling study was carried out to investigate the most likely enzymatic disassembly mechanism of dendrimers that were designed as potential antichagasic and antileishmanial prodrugs. The models contained myo-inositol (core), L-malic acid (spacer), and active agents such as 3-hydroxyflavone, quercetin, and hydroxymethylnitrofurazone (NFOH). A theoretical approach that considered one, two, or three branches has already been performed and reported by our research group; the work described herein focused on four (models A and B), five, or six branches, and considered their physicochemical properties, such as spatial hindrance, electrostatic potential mapping, and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy (E(LUMO)). The findings suggest that the carbonyl group next to the myo-inositol is the most promising ester breaking point.
Prostaglandins (PG's) are a very important class of naturally occurring physiologically active substances, which have been the subject of continuous attention by biologists, pharmacists and chemists since their discovery in the 1930s. Pharmacological studies have shown that prostaglandins exhibit an extremely broad spectrum of activity such as on the smooth muscles of various organs, their mediating role in the central and peripheral nervous systems, in inflammatory processes, and their hormone-like and antihormonal activities. Due to the diversified biological activity and rapid metabolism of the natural prostaglandins, a lot of effort has been done to synthesize prostaglandin analogs. Particularly interesting are the prostaglandin analogs containing heteroatoms in the cyclopentane ring which have received a great deal of attention in relation to their potential biological properties and diversified biological activity.This article is dedicated to Prof. Sune K. Bergstrom (in memoriam) for his milestone contributions to prostaglandin research.
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