This review encompasses comprehensive literature on synthetic modification and biological activities of clinically used neomycin-class aminoglycoside antibiotics to alleviate dose-related toxicity and pathogenic resistance.

Norcryptotackieine or 6H-indolo [2,3-b]quinoline is an indoloquinoline class of alkaloid isolated from Cryptolepis sanguinolenta that is traditionally used for antimalarial therapy. Additional structural tuning can extend the therapeutic potency of these indoloquinolines as antileishmanial drug leads. Synthesis of N-6-functionalized norcryptotackieines suffers from the necessity of complex pre-synthesized starting materials, restricted scope of functionalization, or tedious processes. Consequently, a straightforward synthetic procedure for accessing non-natural N-6-functionalized 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinolines with potent antileishmanial activities is highly sought-after. Herein, we report a two-step one-pot synthesis of N-6-functionalized norcryptotackieine through a Pd-catalyzed double annulation reaction of commercially available amphipathic amines, 2-iodobenzyl cyanide, and differently functionalized 2-bromobenzaldehydes. The reported procedure allows a broad flexibility of substitution at the N-6 position and access to diversified scaffolds, including two natural products norcryptotackieine and neocryptolepine. Interestingly, 6d showed potent antileishmanial activities by causing disruption in the cytoskeletal structure and apoptotic-mediated death of parasites. Together, our work manifests the shortest route to N-6-substituted norcryptotackieine-derived antileishmanial agents.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is characterized by excess accumulation of triglyceride in hepatocytes, is the major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide and no approved drug is available. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complexes has been implicated in promoting lipogenesis and fat accumulation in the liver, and thus, serve as attractive drug targets. The generation of non- or low cytotoxic mTOR inhibitors is required because existing cytotoxic mTOR inhibitors are not useful for NAFLD therapy. New compounds based on the privileged adenosine triphosphate (ATP) site binder quinoline scaffold conjugated to glucose and galactosamine derivatives, which have significantly low cytotoxicity, but strong mTORC1 inhibitory activity at low micromolar concentrations, have been synthesized. These compounds also effectively inhibit the rate of lipogenesis and lipid accumulation in cultured hepatocytes. This is the first report of glycomimetic-quinoline derivatives that reduce lipid load in hepatocytes.

Targeted intracellular delivery is an efficient strategy for developing therapeutics against cancer and other intracellular infections. Nonspecific drug delivery shows limited clinical applications owing to high dosage, cytotoxicity, nonspecific action, high cost, etc. Therefore, targeted delivery of less cytotoxic drug candidates to hepatocytes through ASGPR‐mediated endocytosis could be an efficient strategy to surmount the prevailing shortcomings. In the present work, the gene encoding ASGPR‐H1‐CRD was amplified from Huh7 cells, cloned into pET 11a vector, and the ASGPR‐H1‐CRD protein was expressed and purified from E. coli. A novel triantennary galactose‐conjugated quinoline derivative 4 was synthesized that demonstrates 17‐fold higher binding affinity to isolated ASGPR‐H1‐CRD protein receptor (Kd∼54 μM) in comparison to D‐galactose (Kd∼900 μM). Moreover, micro‐calorimetric studies for the interaction of glycoconjugate 4 with ASGPR protein on live hepatocytes showed notable thermal response in case of ASGPR‐containing Huh7 cells, in comparison to non‐ASGPR Chang cells. These results might serve as an approach towards targeted delivery of small glycoconjugates to hepatocytes.

Norcryptotackieine (1a) belongs to the indoloquinoline class of alkaloids isolated from Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, a plant species that has been traditionally used as an antimalarial agent. Additional structural modifications of 1a can potentially enhance its therapeutic potency. Indoloquinolines such as cryptolepine, neocryptolepine, isocryptolepine, and neoisocryptolepine show restricted clinical applications owing to their cytotoxicity deriving from interactions with DNA. Here, we examined the effect of substitutions at the N-6 position of norcryptotackieine on the cytotoxicity, as well as structure–activity relationship studies pertaining to sequence specific DNA-binding affinities. The representative compound 6d binds DNA in a nonintercalative/pseudointercalative fashion, in addition to nonspecific stacking on DNA, in a sequence selective manner. The DNA-binding studies clearly establish the mechanism of DNA binding by N-6-substituted norcryptotackieines and neocryptolepine. The synthesized norcryptotackieines 6c,d and known indoloquinolines were screened on different cell lines (HEK293, OVCAR3, SKOV3, B16F10, and HeLa) to assess their cytotoxicity. Norcryptotackieine 6d (IC50 value of 3.1 μM) showed 2-fold less potency when compared to the natural indoloquinoline cryptolepine 1c (IC50 value of 1.64 μM) in OVCAR3 (ovarian adenocarcinoma) cell lines.