Cancer is a major disease worldwide. Therefore, scientists are in constant search for new, more effective and selective, not damaging normal cells, substances for the treatment of this disease. The use of coordination compounds as such anticancer agents is based on the interaction between DNA and metal-based complexes. It is known that thiosemicarbazones, isothiosemicarbazones, and 3d metal complexes with them often exhibit high anticancer activity.

In this work S-methyl group in the composition of 2-acetylpyridine 4-allyl-S-methylisothiosemicarbazone (HL¹) was replaced by an S-allyl group. So, the 2-acetylpyridine 4,S-diallylisothiosemicarbazone (HL²) was obtained. Two novel copper(II) coordination compounds were synthesized with HL²: Cu(HL²)Cl₂ and Cu(HL²)Br₂. The inhibitory activity of these novel coordination compounds was tested and compared with the corresponding activities of previously described complexes with 2-acetylpyridine 4-allyl-S-methylisothiosemicarbazone. The inhibitory activity toward normal MDCK cell line has decreased. Their IC₅₀ values are in the range of 1.2-1.4 μM, while the corresponding complexes with HL¹ have IC₅₀ values 0.35-1.0 μM. So the novel complexes have a lower impact on normal cells. At the same time, the inhibitory activity toward human pancreatic cancer cell line (BxPC-3) has increased 2.5-18 times. The IC₅₀ values of the novel complexes toward BxPC-3 cells are in the range of 5-8 nM. That means that the selectivity indexes (ratio between IC₅₀ values towards normal cells and cancer cells) of the novel complexes are in the range of 150-280 which is very promising for further study of these complexes as potent selective anticancer drugs.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second cause of death globally. Conventional cancer therapy includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Nevertheless, therapy is often limited by low efficacy or significant adverse side effects. Therefore, safer and more efficient therapeutic agents are essential. Flavonoids, compounds largely found in the plant kingdom, have shown promising cancer-inhibiting properties. Although the cytotoxic effect of flavonoids in human cancer cells lines is widely reported, the corresponding effect in healthy human cells is underreported.

The present study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of a group of flavonoids hydroxylated at C-7, C-3’, and C-4’ in lung fibroblasts. For this, the MRC-5 human lung fibroblast cell line was incubated with flavonoids, 0 – 160 µM, with additional hydroxy groups at C-3, C-6 or C-5’, or chlorine at C-3. After incubation for 48 h, the inhibition of cell viability and growth was measured using the WST-8 and sulforhodamine B assays, respectively.

The presence of the 3- or 5-hydroxy groups was associated with lower cytotoxicity at low concentrations (<40 µM) while, at higher concentrations (>40 µM), only the presence of the 5-hydroxy group seems to be related with low cytotoxicity. Although additional studies are required, these results reveal substituted flavonoids with lower in vitro toxicity in healthy human cells.

Cancer is a disease that is spread widely all over the world and requires the development of new anticancer drugs. Curing cancer is a complicated process as the drugs used target human cells and cells that have undergone genetic changes and are dividing at a quick and uncontrolled rate. Thus, there is constant need to develop alternative or synergistic anticancer agents with minimal side effects.

One of the important strategy in the search for chemotherapeutics is the approach based on combining in one molecule fragments of known drugs, leading structures or "hit" structures. The conjugation of two pharmacophores into a molecular hybrid aims at achieving a synergistic effect with increased efficacy compared to the starting compounds.

The aim of the work was to synthesize of new N-substituted N'-(2-methylthio-4-chloro-5-methylbenzenesulfonyl)guanidines with potential anticancer activity, designed as molecular hybrids containing fragments of chalcone and 4-chloro-5-methyl-2-methylthiobenzenesulfonamide.

Cytotoxic activity of the compounds was evaluated in the MTT test against three human tumor cell lines: breast cancer (MCF-7), colon cancer (HCT-116) and cervical cancer (HeLa). It has been shown that all sulfonamides are highly active against breast and colon cancer cell lines (IC₅₀: 2.5‒5 μM). Additionally, in tests carried out on non-cancer human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT), it was proved that the tested compounds showed higher cytotoxicity against cancer cells compared to healthy cells. Cytotoxic activity in HeLa cell line ranged from values of IC₅₀ from 5 to 17 μM.

The determination of the number of microorganisms is very important in the biotechnology, pharmacy and food industries. Monitoring the quality of pharmaceuticals and food products requires fast, sensitive and selective methods to detect a small number of viable bacterial cells. Isolation of the natural compounds presented in the food with antibacterial properties requires testing of many samples, against many bacteria in a short time.

Counting bacteria on the agar plates, membrane filters, and using the “most probable number" are basic methods used to determine of the living bacteria. The methods require a long incubation time, colonies may be formed by several related species of bacteria, and full identification takes up to seven days. The serial dilution method in broth, used in clinical microbiology allows determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration. The length of assay time and the impact of the physical properties of the sample affect the results.

We used a fluorescence oxygen-sensitive sensor, ruthenium-tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) dichloride (Ru(DPP)₃Cl₂), the fluorescence of which depends on the amount of oxygen in the tested sample, applied in the fluorescent optical respirometry (FOR) method. Molecular oxygen is a fluorescence quencher. Growing microorganisms consume oxygen, thus influencing the intensity of fluorescence in the sample. The FOR method was performed to evaluate the effect of chemical and environmental factors, plant extracts on aerobic bacteria. The FOR method allows to detect bacteria in sterile and non-sterile pharmaceutical products. This method allows also for a rapid, unequivocal detection and counting of living bacterial cells.

Four new series of aromatic sulfamates were synthesized and investigated for the inhibition of four human (h) isoforms of zinc enzyme Carbonic Anhydrase, hCA I, II, IX, and XII. The reported derivatives, obtained by a sulfamoylation reaction of the corresponding phenolic precursors, bear 3,5-diarylpyrazoline moieties as spacers between the benzenesulfamate fragment which binds the zinc ion from the active site, and the tail of the inhibitor. Pyrazolines are biologically privileged scaffolds, endowed with versatile biological activity, such as an anti-proliferative action. The derivatives were tested for the inhibition of the cytosolic, hCA I and II (off target isoforms) and the trans-membrane, tumor-associated hCA IX and XII enzymes (anticancer drug targets). Generally, hCA I was not effectively inhibited, whereas many low nanomolar inhibitors were evidenced against hCA II (KIs in the range of 0.42–90.1 nM), IX (KIs in the range of 0.72–63.6 nM), and XII (KIs in the range of 0.88–85.2 nM). The best substitution fragments at the pyrazoline ring included for CA II a 4-sulfamic group on the 3-aryl and halogens on the 5-aryl or a methoxy group on the 3-aryl and a 4-sulfamate group on the 5-aryl; for CA IX and CA XII they included the sulfamic group on the 3- or 4-position of the 5-aryl and an electronwithdrawing group on the 4-postion of the 3-aryl ring

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a therapeutic approach based on combined use of light, oxygen and a photosensitizing agent (PS). These three components interact to generate reactive oxygen species, which are cytotoxic and irreversibly damage vital components of microbial cells, leading to death. However, this methodology has not managed to be completely specific in its mode of action, since the photosensitizer can bind to both pathogenic and commensal microorganisms and even to host cells. Since subsequent irradiation of such cells could lead to their destruction, it is desirable to direct the photodynamic activity to the target cell. Therefore, the objective of this work was to direct the destruction of pathogenic microorganisms without affecting the normal flora. This could be achieved by binding the photosensitizing molecule to an antibody against the surface of the target organism. Therefore, a TCPP-IgG conjugate was synthesized using 4,4',4'',4'''-(porphine-5,10,15,20-tetrayl)tetrakis(benzoic acid) (TCPP) and the antibody anti-protein A of Staphylococcus aureus. The UV-visible spectra of TCPP-IgG showed the typical Soret and Q bands characteristic of porphyrin derivatives and, additionally, a new band was observed, corresponding to the absorbance of the protein. However, the results indicated that the conjugation reaction affects the photochemical properties of fluorescent emission and the production of reactive oxygen species compared to TCPP free base. As a consequence, a lower cytotoxicity was observed in planktonic cells of S. aureus. PDI can become a promising therapeutic alternative, having as a strategy the specific control of bacterial death, for an efficient eradication.

Some V complexes are considered as promising antidiabetics. These compounds are able to mimic most of the biological effects of insulin in different organisms. Diacetylacetonateoxovanadium(IV) [V^IVO(acac)₂] decreases glucose concentration in blood and enhances the kinase activity of the insulin receptor in cells more than other V compounds. Proteins play a major role in the definition of the mechanism of action of metallodrugs because of their high concentration in biological fluids and their high affinity for metal ions. To better understand the mechanism of action of [V^IVO(acac)₂] it is important to define its reaction with proteins. Here, we report the structures obtained upon reaction of [V^IVO(acac)₂] with the model protein lysozyme. The crystallographic study reveals the loss of the ligands, the oxidation of V^IV to V^V, and the subsequent formation of fascinating adducts of the protein with different polyoxidovanadates (POVs). POVs constitute a sub-class of the vast polyoxidometalates (POMs) family that exerts various biological activities, such as anti-Alzheimer's disease, antibacterial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, anti-virus, and so on. The obtained structural data expand the repertoire of structures of known protein-POM complexes and provide useful information on the recognition of POVs by proteins.

The development of plant protection products requires the safety profile analysis of active ingredients (AIs). This includes toxicity determination of AI metabolites. A very common phase-one metabolism reaction is C‑oxygenation catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes. Thus, the synthesis of oxygenated AI metabolites is of great importance to agrochemical producing companies, namely ASCENZA Agro, for safety evaluation purposes. Herein, we describe the progress towards the synthesis of hydroxylated aromatic metabolites of several AIs, using methods described by Tobias Ritter and co-workers. These methods allow the late-stage oxygenation of the aromatic and benzylic positions, by generating mesylate derivatives with bis(methanesulfonyl) peroxide as an oxidant, followed by conversion to the corresponding phenols.

The aim of this work was the use of both methods i.e. cluster analysis (CA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for evaluation the lipophilicity of selected antiandrogen drugs such as abiraterone, bicalutamide, flutamide, nilutamide, leflunomide, teriflunomide and ailanthone. Lipophilicity is an important physicochemical parameter useful in determining the ADMET properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicity) of organic compounds as potential drugs or drug candidates. Therefore, is a big need to find a fast, economical and efficient tools like theoretical methods includes CA and PCA analysis for evaluation the lipophilic properties of different bioactive compounds such as studied antiandrogens. In presented work, we used the both methods for comparison the physicochemical properties includes lipophilicity of seven antiandroges with differ chemical stuctures. The lipophilicity parameters of studied compounds were obtained in form of R_MW by using thin-layer chromatographic method (RP-TLC) in different conditions i.e. various mobile phases composed of ethanol-water, propan-2-ol-water and acetonitrile-water and chromatographic plates RP2F₂₅₄, RP18F₂₅₄ and RP18WF₂₅₄ as well logP values predicted by means of calculation methods (AlogPs, AClogP, AlogP, MlogP, xlogP2, xlogP3). The applied CA and PCA analysis allowed to compare the examined compounds depends on their lipophilicity parameters determined using RP-TLC method and calculated logP values. Our study confirms the utility of both statistical methods i.e. CA and PCA to evaluate the lipophilicity of studied bioactive componds belong to antiandrogen drugs.

Quorum sensing is a bacterial mechanism that is essential in the pathogenesis of many infections, such as P. aeruginosa. These infections are strongly influenced by specific quorum sensing molecules, such as Autoinducer-2 (AI-2). AI-2 binds to quorum sensing receptors within bacteria leading to the up-regulation of virulence genes that cause biofilm formation and toxin production. Naturally-occurring brominated furanones isolated from the marine algae Delisea pulchra were previously found to possess properties which inhibited bacterial quorum sensing in AI-2 sensitive species.

The aim of this work was to create a series of novel halogenated furanones which can act as quorum sensing inhibitors of AI-2. Based on the lead from Delisea pulchra, a library of compounds was synthesised via the functionalisation of gem-dibromoolefin and gem-dichloroolefin intermediates using palladium-catalysed couplings, namely Suzuki and Sonogashira reactions. These compounds were subsequently evaluated for their effects on biofilm formation in selected microbes. Several molecules were confirmed to be highly effective biofilm inhibitors in multiple pathogens, including P. aeruginosa and C. albicans.