• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.175-192
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• 2006

Screening for the cytotoxicity from plant origin is the first stage for anti-cancer drug development. A variety of terpenoids with exomethylene, epoxide, allyl, $\alpha,\beta-unsaturated$ carbonyl, acetylenes, and $\alpha-methylene-\gamma-lactone$ induces apoptosis and/or differentiation as well as cytotoxicity through the ROS signal transduction pathways. These are found among monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenes, flavonoids, coumarins, diarylheptanoids, and even organosulfuric compounds. The most essential characteristics of natural cytotoxic substances is to possess the strong electrophilicity that is susceptible to nucleophilic biomolecules in the cell. Thiol-reductants and superoxide dismutase can block or delay apoptosis. Thus, ROS and the resulting cellular redox-potential changes can be parts of the signal transduction pathway during apoptosis. Disturbance of the balance of oxireduction by the pigment of natural quinones also caused the induction of the differentiation and apoptosis. Saponins with the cytotoxicity are restricted to their monodesmosides, rather than to bisdesmosides. Those saponins exhibited calcium ion-mediated apoptosis in addition to cytotoxicity whereas they showed also differentiation without extracellular calcium ion. The properties on cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and differentiation were assumed to depend on resultant oxidative stress to the cells. In this review, we describe a spectrum of cytotoxic compounds with various action mechanisms.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2009

The development of a variety of methods like AM1, PM3, PM5 and DFT now allows the calculation of atomic and molecular properties with high precision as well as the treatment of large molecules with predictive power. In this paper, these methods have been used to calculate a number of quantum chemical descriptors (like Klopman atomic softness in terms of $E_n^{\ddag}\;and\;E_m^{\ddag}$, chemical hardness, global softness, electronegativity, chemical potential, electrophilicity index, heat of formation, total energy etc.) for 75 alkanes to predict their boiling point values. The 3D modeling, geometry optimization and semiempirical & DFT calculations of all the alkanes have been made with the help of CAChe software. The calculated quantum chemical descriptors have been correlated with observed boiling point by using multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis. The predicted values of boiling point are very close to the observed values. The values of correlation coefficient ($r^2$) and cross validation coefficient ($r_{cv}^2$) also indicates the generated QSPR models are valuable and the comparison of all the methods indicate that the DFT method is most reliable while the addition of Klopman atomic softness $E_n^{\ddag}$ in DFT method improves the result and provides best correlation.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.535-538
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• 1999

Five coordinated water-soluble iridium(l) complex, IrH(CO)(TPPTS)3 (1) (TPPTS = P(m-C6H4SO3Na)3-xH2O) has been prepared from the reaction of IrCl3·3H2O with TPPTS and HCHO in H2O/EtOH solution. Complex 1 catalyzes the hydration of nitrites (RC ≡ N, R = CH3, CICH2, CH3(CH2)4, Ph) in aqueous solution to give the corresponding amides (RCONH2) at 100℃. The hydration of unsaturated nitrites (R'C ≡ N, R'=CH3CH=CH, CH3OCH=CH, trans-PhCH=CH, CH2=C(CH3)) takes place regioselectively on-C ≡ N group to give unsaturated amides (R'CONH2) leaving the olefinic group intact. The yields of the amides seem to be depending on the electrophilicity of the carbon of nitrile: The more the electron withdrawing ability of the substituents on nitrites, the more amides are obtained. The hydration of dinitriles (NC-R-CN, R=(CH2)4, (CH2)6) with complex 1 initially gives mono-hydration products (NC-R-CONH2) which are slowly hydrated further to give dihydration products (H2NCO-R-CONH2). The hydration of 1,4-dicyanobutane has been found to be somewhat faster than that of 1,6-dicyanohexane.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.519-523
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• 2012

A kinetic study is reported on nucleophilic displacement reactions of benzyl 2-pyridyl carbonate 6 with alkalimetal ethoxides, EtOM (M = Li, Na, and K), in anhydrous ethanol at $25.0{\pm}0.1^{\circ}C$. The plots of pseudo-firstorder rate constant $k_{obsd}$ vs. [EtOM] curve upward, a typical phenomenon reported previously for alkaline ethanolysis of esters in which alkali-metal ions behave as a Lewis-acid catalyst. The kobsd value for the reaction of 6 with a fixed EtOK concentration decreases rapidly upon addition of 18-crown-6-ether (18C6), a complexing agent for $K^+$ ion up to [18C6]/[EtOK] = 1.0 and then remains constant thereafter, indicating that the catalytic effect exerted by K+ ion disappears in the presence of excess 18C6. The reactivity of EtOM towards 6 increases in the order $EtO^-$ < EtOLi < EtONa < EtOK, which is contrasting to the reactivity order reported for the corresponding reactions of 2-pyridyl benzoate 4, i.e., $EtO^-$ < EtOK < EtONa < EtOLi. Besides, 6 is 1.7 and 3.5 times more reactive than 4 towards dissociated $EtO^-$ and ion-paired EtOK, respectively. The reactivity difference and the contrasting metal-ion selectivity are discussed in terms of electronic effects and transition-state structures.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.3285-3292
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• 2012

The interaction of thiazole drug with (6,0) zigzag single-walled boron nitride nanotube of finite length in gas and solvent phases was studied by means of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In both phases, the binding energy is negative and presenting characterizes an exothermic process. Also, the binding energy in solvent phase is more than that the gas phase. Binding energy corresponding to adsorption of thiazole on the BNNT model in the gas and solvent phases was calculated to be -0.34 and -0.56 eV, and about 0.04 and 0.06 electrons is transferred from the thiazole to the nanotube in the phases. The significantly changes in binding energies and energy gap values by the thiazole adsorption, shows the high sensitivity of the electronic properties of BNNT towards the adsorption of the thiazole molecule. Frontier molecular orbital theory (FMO) and structural analyses show that the low energy level of LUMO, electron density, and length of the surrounding bonds of adsorbing atoms help to the thiazole adsorption on the nanotube. Decrease in global hardness, energy gap and ionization potential is due to the adsorption of the thiazole, and consequently, in the both phases, stability of the thiazole-attached (6,0) BNNT model is decreased and its reactivity increased. Presence of polar solvent increases the electron donor of the thiazole and the electrophilicity of the complex. This study may provide new insight to the development of functionalized boron nitride nanotubes as drug delivery systems for virtual applications.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.733-740
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• 2011

Multiple regression analysis was used for the calculation of pKa values of 15 substituted benzaldoximes by using various types of descriptors as parameters. These descriptors are based on quantum mechanical treatments. They were derived by employing semi-empirical calculation represented by the PM3 model and an Abinitio method expressed by Hartree-Fock(HF) model performed at the 6-311 G(d, p) level of theory. The parameters tested for their ability to represent the variations observed in the experimental pKa(s) are atomic and structural properties including Muliken charges on the atoms of hydroxyl group and C=N bond, the angle $C_6-C_1-C_7$, and length of O-H bond. Molecular properties are also used like energies of HOMO and LUMO, hardness(${\eta}$), chemical potential(${\mu}$), total energy(TE), dipole of molecule(DM), and electrophilicity index(W). The relation between pKa values and each of these parameters of the studied compounds is investigated. Depending on these relations, two sets of parameters were constructed for comparison between the PM3 and HF methods. The results obtained favor the Abinitio method for such applications although both models proved to have high predictive power and have sufficient reliability to describe the effect of substituents on pKa values of benzaldoxime compounds under consideration which is clear from the values of correlation coefficient $R^2$ obtained and the consistency between the experimental and the calculated values.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.1951-1956
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• 2011

A kinetic study is reported on nucleophilic substitution reactions of 4-nitrophenyl nicotinate 5 and isonicotinate 6 with alkali metal ethoxide EtOM (M = K, Na, and Li) in anhydrous ethanol at $25.0{\pm}0.1^{\circ}C$. Plots of pseudo-first-order rate constant $k_{obsd}$ vs. EtOM concentration exhibit upward curvature for the reactions of 5 and 6 with EtOK and EtONa but are almost linear for those with EtOLi. Dissection of $k_{obsd}$ into $k_{EtO^-}$ and $k_{EtOM}$ (i.e., the second-order rate constant for the reaction with dissociated $EtO^-$ and ion-paired EtOM, respectively) has shown that $k_{EtOK}$ ${\geq}$ $k_{EtONa}$ > $k_{EtO^-}$ but $k_{EtOLi}$ < $k_{EtO^-}$. It has been concluded that $K^+$ and $Na^+$ ions catalyze the reactions by increasing the electrophilicity of the carbonyl carbon atom through formation of a 4-membered cyclic transition state $TS_3$ or $TS_4$. However, $M^+$ ion catalysis has been found to be much less significant for the reactions of 5 and 6 than for the corresponding reactions of 4-nitrophenyl picolinate 4, which was reported to proceed through a 5-membered cyclic transition state $TS_2$. Although 5 and 6 are significantly more reactive than 4-nitrophenyl benzoate 3, the reactions of 5 and 6 result in smaller $k_{EtOK}/k_{EtO^-}$ ratios than those of 3. The electron-withdrawing ability of the nitrogen atom in the acyl moiety of 5 and 6 has been suggested to be responsible for the increase in reactivity and the decrease in the $k_{EtOK}/k_{EtO^-}$ ratio.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1153-1157
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• 2011

A kinetic study is reported for aminolysis of S-4-nitrophenyl X-substituted thiobenzoates 3a-g in 80 mol % $H_2O$/20 mol % DMSO at $25.0{\pm}0.1^{\circ}C$. Thiol esters 3a-g are 7.8-47.6 fold more reactive than the corresponding oxygen esters (i.e., 4-nitrophenyl X-substituted benzoates 1a-g). Such reactivity order appears to be in accordance with the expectation that 4-nitrothiophenoxide in 3a-g is a better nucleofuge than 4-nitrophenoxide in 1a-g since the former is 2.64 pKa units less basic than the latter. Hammett plot for the reactions of 3a-g exhibit poor correlation coefficients ($R^2$ = 0.977-0.986) with negative deviation by substrates possessing an electrondonating group (EDG), while the Yukawa-Tsuno plots result in excellent linear correlation ($R^2$ = 0.995-0.997) with ${\rho}$ = 0.93-1.23 and r = 0.57-0.67, indicating that the negative deviation shown by substrates possessing an EDG is caused by ground-state stabilization through resonance interactions but not due to a change in ratedetermining step upon changing the nonleaving-group substituent X. The ${\rho}$ value increases as the incoming amine becomes more basic and more reactive, indicating that the RSP is not operative in the current reactions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.109-109
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• 1997

Inhibitory effect on DNA topoisomerase-I, rate of glutathione conjugation and cytotoxicity of naphthoquinone derivatives were correlated. During 5 min exposure of the derivatives to glutathione (GSH), it was found that 14% of 5,8-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone(DMNQ) was converted into a GSH-conjugate, whereas 5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone(DHNQ) did not interact with GSH, implying that DMNQ exerted higher electrophilicity than DHNQ. However, DHNQ (IC$\_$50/, 0.15 ${\mu}$M) showed stronger cytotoxicity in L1210 cells than DMNQ(IC$\_$50/, 0.45 ${\mu}$M). The stronger cytotoxicity of DHNQ, compared to DMNQ, could be ascribed to more rapid redox cycling. Both naphthoquinones (IC$\_$50/, 60-65 ${\mu}$M) exhibiting about the same inhibitory effect on DNA topoisomerase-I were more potent than 1,4-naphthoquinone(1,4-NQ, IC$\_$50/, 134 ${\mu}$M). Thus, 5,8-oxy groups in the structure seem to be important for the inhibition of the enzyme. DMNQ showed a broader dose range while maintaining a good antitumor activity against S-180 fluid tumor. For these reasons, DMNQ was taken as useful pharmacophore for structural modification. Introduction of 1-hydroxyalkyl groups at C-2 of DMNQ lowered all of the activities mentioned above, while acetylation of 1-hydroxyalkyl moiety enhanced the activities by 4-5 times. Introduction of the same side chains at C-6 exhibited stronger activities than 2-substituted ones. Based on these results it was suggested that the quinonoid moiety in 6-substituted DMNQ was more exposed to cellular nucleophiles such as DNA, thiols of enzymes and so on. The synthesis of DHNQ or DMNQ derivatives are going on, and the corelationship between structure-activity will be discussed.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.2271-2276
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• 2014

Second-order rate constants ($k_N$) have been measured spectrophotometrically for the reaction of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl X-substituted-benzoates (6a-6h) with a series of primary amines including hydrazine in 80 mol % $H_2O$/20 mol % DMSO at $25.0^{\circ}C$. The Br${\o}$nsted-type plot for the reaction of 4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl benzoate (6d) is linear with ${\beta}_{nuc}$ = 0.74 when hydrazine is excluded from the correlation. Such a linear Br${\o}$nsted-type plot is typical for reactions reported previously to proceed through a stepwise mechanism in which expulsion of the leaving group occurs in the rate-determining step (RDS). The Hammett plots for the reactions of 6a-6h with hydrazine and glycylglycine are nonlinear. In contrast, the Yukawa-Tsuno plots exhibit excellent linear correlations with ${\rho}_X$ = 1.29-1.45 and r = 0.53-0.56, indicating that the nonlinear Hammett plots are not due to a change in RDS but are caused by resonance stabilization of the substrates possessing an electron-donating group (EDG). Hydrazine is ca. 47-93 times more reactive than similarly basic glycylglycine toward 6a-6h (e.g., the ${\alpha}$-effect). The ${\alpha}$-effect increases as the substituent X in the benzoyl moiety becomes a stronger electron-withdrawing group (EWG), indicating that destabilization of the ground state (GS) of hydrazine through the repulsion between the nonbonding electron pairs on the two N atoms is not solely responsible for the substituent-dependent ${\alpha}$-effect. Stabilization of transition state (TS) through five-membered cyclic TSs, which would increase the electrophilicity of the reaction center or the nucleofugality of the leaving group, contributes to the ${\alpha}$-effect observed in this study.