TY - THES A1 - Hofmann, Julian T1 - Synthesis of Sterubin, Flavonoid Hybrids, and Curcumin Bioisosteres and Characterization of their Neuroprotective Effects T1 - Synthese von Sterubin, Flavonoid Hybriden und Curcumin Bioisosteren und Charakterisierung ihrer neuroprotektiven Effekte N2 - Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the most common form of dementia with still no preventive or curative treatment. Besides several risk factors, age is one of the major risks for AD and with an aging society, there is an urgent need for disease modifying agents. The strategy to address only one target within the intertwined network of AD failed so far. Natural products especially the phytochemical flavonoids, which are poly-phenolic natural products, have shown great potential as disease modifying agents against neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer´s disease (AD) with activities even in vivo. Flavonoids are produced by many plants and the native Californian plant Eriodictyon californicum is particularly rich in flavonoids. One of the major flavonoids of E. californicum is sterubin, a very potent agent against oxidative stress and inflammation, two hallmarks and drivers of AD and neurodegeneration. Herein, racemic sterubin was synthesized and separated into its pure (R)- and (S)-enantiomer by chiral HPLC. The pure enantiomers showed comparable neuroprotection in vitro with no significant differences. The stereoisomers were configurationally stable in methanol, but fast racemization was observed in culture medium. Moreover, the activity of sterubin was investigated in vivo, in an AD mouse model. Sterubin showed a significant positive impact on short- and long-term memory at low dosages. A promising concept for the increase of activity of single flavonoids is hybridization with aromatic acids like cinnamic or ferulic acids. Hybridization of the natural products taxifolin and silibinin with cinnamic acid led to an overadditive effect of these compounds in phenotypic screening assays related to neurodegeneration and AD. Because there are more potent agents as taxifolin or silibinin, the hybrids were further developed, and different flavonoid cinnamic acid hybrids were synthesized. The connection between flavonoids and cinnamic acid was achieved by an amide instead of a labile ester to improve the stability towards hydrolysis to gain better “druggability” of the compounds. To investigate the oxidation state of the C-ring of the flavonoid part, the dehydro analogues of the respective hybrids were also synthesized. The compounds show neuroprotection against oxytosis, ferroptosis and ATP-depletion in the murine hippocampal cell line HT22. While no overall trend within the flavanones compared to the flavones could be assigned, the taxifolin and the quercetin derivative were the most active compounds in course of all assays. The quercetin derivate even shows greater activity than the taxifolin derivate in every assay. As desired no hydrolysis product was found in cellular uptake experiments after 4h, whereas different metabolites were found. The last part of this work focused on synthetic bioisoteres of the natural product curcumin. Due to the drawbacks of curcumin and flavonoids arising from poor pharmacokinetics, rapid metabolism and sometimes instability in aqueous medium, we have examined the biological activity of azobenzene compounds designed as bioisoteres of curcumin, carrying the pharmacophoric catechol group of flavonoids. These bioisosteres exceeded their parent compounds in counteracting intracellular oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and amyloid-beta aggregation. By incorporating an azobenzene moiety and the isosteric behaviour to the natural parent compounds, these compounds may act as molecular tools for further investigation towards the molecular mode of action of natural products. N2 - Die Alzheimersche Krankheit ist eine neurodegenerative Erkrankung und die häufigste Form der Demenz, für die es noch keine präventive oder kurative Behandlung gibt. Neben mehreren Risikofaktoren ist das Alter eines der Hauptrisiken für die Krankheit und in einer alternden Gesellschaft besteht ein dringender Bedarf an Mitteln zum Stoppen oder Heilen der Krankheit. Die Strategie, nur ein Ziel innerhalb des verflochtenen Netzwerks der Pathogenese von AD zu adressieren, ist bisher gescheitert. Naturstoffe, insbesondere die sekundären Pflanzenmetabolite Flavonoide, bei denen es sich um polyphenolische Naturstoffe handelt, haben ein großes Potenzial zum Eindämmen von neurodegenerativen Erkrankungen. Zahlreiche Studien, in vitro und auch in vivo, legen eine Wirksamkeit dieser Stoffe nahe. Flavonoide werden von vielen Pflanzen produziert und die kalifornische Pflanze Eriodictyon californicum ist besonders reich an Flavonoiden. Eines der wichtigsten Flavonoide von E. californicum ist Sterubin, ein sehr potenter Wirkstoff gegen oxidativen Stress und Entzündungen, zwei Treiber der Alzheimerschen Erkrankung und Neurodegeneration. In dieser Arbeit wurde racemisches Sterubin synthetisiert und durch chirale HPLC in das reine (R)- beziehungsweise (S)-Enantiomer getrennt. Die reinen Enantiomere zeigten in vitro eine vergleichbare neuroprotektive Aktivität ohne signifikante Unterschiede. Die Stereoisomere waren in Methanol konfigurativ stabil, in Zellkulturmedium wurde jedoch schnelle Racemisierung beobachtet. Darüber hinaus wurde die Aktivität von Sterubin in vivo in einem Alzheimer-Mausmodell untersucht. Sterubin zeigte bei niedrigen Dosierungen einen signifikanten positiven Einfluss auf das Kurz- und Langzeitgedächtnis. Ein vielversprechendes Konzept zur Aktivitätssteigerung einzelner Flavonoide ist die Hybridisierung mit aromatischen Säuren wie Zimt- oder Ferulasäure. Die Hybridisierung der Naturstoffe Taxifolin und Silibinin mit Zimtsäure führte zu einer überadditiven Wirkung dieser Verbindungen in phänotypischen Screening-Assays im Zusammenhang mit Neurodegeneration und Alzheimer. Da es potentere Moleküle als Taxifolin oder Silibinin gibt, wurden die Hybride weiterentwickelt und verschiedene Flavonoid-Zimtsäure-Hybride synthetisiert. Die Verbindung zwischen dem Flavonoid und der Zimtsäure wurde durch ein Amid anstelle eines labilen Esters geknüpft, um die Stabilität gegenüber Hydrolyse zu verbessern. Um die Oxidationsstufe des C-Rings des Flavonoidteils zu untersuchen, wurden auch die Dehydro-Analoga der jeweiligen Hybride synthetisiert. Die Verbindungen zeigten Neuroprotektion gegen Oxytose, Ferroptose und dem Verlust von ATP in der murinen Hippocampus-Zelllinie HT22. Während kein allgemeiner Trend zur besseren Wirksamkeit der Flavanone gegenüber den Flavonen festzustellen war, waren das Taxifolin und das Querzetin-Derivat die aktivsten Verbindungen in allen Assays. Das Querzetin-Derivat zeigt in jedemAssay sogar eine höhere Aktivität als das Taxifolin-Derivat. Wie erwartet wurde in zellulären Aufnahmeexperimenten nach 4 h kein Hydrolyseprodukt gefunden, wohingegen verschiedene Metabolite gefunden wurden. Der letzte Teil dieser Arbeit beschäftigte sich mit synthetischen Bioisosteren des Naturstoffs Curcumin. Aufgrund der Nachteile von Curcumin und Flavonoiden, die aus einer schlechten Pharmakokinetik, einem schnellen Metabolismus und manchmal einer Instabilität in wässrigem Medium resultieren, wurde die biologische Aktivität von Azobenzolverbindungen untersucht, die als Bioisostere von Curcumin konzipiert sind und die pharmakophore Catecholgruppe der Flavonoide tragen. Diese Bioisostere übertrafen ihre Stammverbindungen in der Protektion gegen intrazellulären oxidativen Stress, Neuroinflammation und der anti-aggregativen Eigenschaften gegen Amyloid-Beta. Durch den Einbau einer Azobenzoleinheit und das isostere Verhalten zu den natürlichen Stammverbindungen könnten diese Verbindungen als molekulare Werkzeuge für die weitere Untersuchung der molekularen Wirkungsweise von Naturstoffen dienen. KW - Organische Synthese KW - Flavonoids KW - Alzheimerkrankheit KW - Naturstoff KW - Hybrid-Molecules KW - Neuroprotection Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-266641 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Julian A1 - Spatz, Philipp A1 - Walther, Rasmus A1 - Gutmann, Marcus A1 - Maurice, Tangui A1 - Decker, Michael T1 - Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Flavonoid-Cinnamic Acid Amide Hybrids with Distinct Activity against Neurodegeneration in Vitro and in Vivo JF - Chemistry-A European Journal N2 - Flavonoids are polyphenolic natural products and have shown significant potential as disease-modifying agents against neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease (AD), with activities even in vivo. Hybridization of the natural products taxifolin and silibinin with cinnamic acid led to an overadditive effect of these compounds in several phenotypic screening assays related to neurodegeneration and AD. Therefore, we have exchanged the flavonoid part of the hybrids with different flavonoids, which show higher efficacy than taxifolin or silibinin, to improve the activity of the respective hybrids. Chemical connection between the flavonoid and cinnamic acid was realized by an amide instead of a labile ester bond to improve stability towards hydrolysis. To investigate the influence of a double bond at the C-ring of the flavonoid, the dehydro analogues of the respective hybrids were also synthesized. All compounds obtained show neuroprotection against oxytosis, ferroptosis and ATP-depletion, respectively, in the murine hippocampal cell line HT22. Interestingly, the taxifolin and the quercetin derivatives are the most active compounds, whereby the quercetin derivate shows even more pronounced activity than the taxifolin one in all assays applied. As aimed for, no hydrolysis product was found in cellular uptake experiments after 4 h whereas different metabolites were detected. Furthermore, the quercetin-cinnamic acid amide showed pronounced activity in an in vivo AD mouse model at a remarkably low dose of 0.3 mg/kg. KW - AD mouse modele KW - oxytosis/ferroptosis KW - natural product hybrids KW - Alzheimer's diseas Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-318878 VL - 28 IS - 39 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Julian A1 - Fayez, Shaimaa A1 - Scheiner, Matthias A1 - Hoffmann, Matthias A1 - Oerter, Sabrina A1 - Appelt‐Menzel, Antje A1 - Maher, Pamela A1 - Maurice, Tangui A1 - Bringmann, Gerhard A1 - Decker, Michael T1 - Sterubin: Enantioresolution and Configurational Stability, Enantiomeric Purity in Nature, and Neuroprotective Activity in Vitro and in Vivo JF - Chemistry – A European Journal N2 - Alzheimer′s disease (AD) is a neurological disorder with still no preventive or curative treatment. Flavonoids are phytochemicals with potential therapeutic value. Previous studies described the flavanone sterubin isolated from the Californian plant Eriodictyon californicum as a potent neuroprotectant in several in vitro assays. Herein, the resolution of synthetic racemic sterubin (1) into its two enantiomers, (R)‐1 and (S)‐1, is described, which has been performed on a chiral chromatographic phase, and their stereochemical assignment online by HPLC‐ECD coupling. (R)‐1 and (S)‐1 showed comparable neuroprotection in vitro with no significant differences. While the pure stereoisomers were configurationally stable in methanol, fast racemization was observed in the presence of culture medium. We also established the occurrence of extracted sterubin as its pure (S)‐enantiomer. Moreover, the activity of sterubin (1) was investigated for the first time in vivo, in an AD mouse model. Sterubin (1) showed a significant positive impact on short‐ and long‐term memory at low dosages. KW - Alzheimer′s disease KW - chiral resolution KW - circular dichroism KW - Eriodictyon californicum KW - flavonoids KW - sterubin Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-215993 VL - 26 IS - 32 SP - 7299 EP - 7308 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Julian A1 - Ginex, Tiziana A1 - Espargaró, Alba A1 - Scheiner, Matthias A1 - Gunesch, Sandra A1 - Aragó, Marc A1 - Stigloher, Christian A1 - Sabaté, Raimon A1 - Luque, F. Javier A1 - Decker, Michael T1 - Azobioisosteres of Curcumin with Pronounced Activity against Amyloid Aggregation, Intracellular Oxidative Stress, and Neuroinflammation JF - Chemistry – A European Journal N2 - Many (poly‐)phenolic natural products, for example, curcumin and taxifolin, have been studied for their activity against specific hallmarks of neurodegeneration, such as amyloid‐β 42 (Aβ42) aggregation and neuroinflammation. Due to their drawbacks, arising from poor pharmacokinetics, rapid metabolism, and even instability in aqueous medium, the biological activity of azobenzene compounds carrying a pharmacophoric catechol group, which have been designed as bioisoteres of curcumin has been examined. Molecular simulations reveal the ability of these compounds to form a hydrophobic cluster with Aβ42, which adopts different folds, affecting the propensity to populate fibril‐like conformations. Furthermore, the curcumin bioisosteres exceeded the parent compound in activity against Aβ42 aggregation inhibition, glutamate‐induced intracellular oxidative stress in HT22 cells, and neuroinflammation in microglial BV‐2 cells. The most active compound prevented apoptosis of HT22 cells at a concentration of 2.5 μm (83 % cell survival), whereas curcumin only showed very low protection at 10 μm (21 % cell survival). KW - amyloid beta KW - bioisosterism KW - natural products KW - neuroprotectivity KW - replica-exchange molecular dynamics Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-238988 VL - 27 IS - 19 SP - 6015 EP - 6027 ER -