Roghayeh Heiran

Many people around the world suffer from malaria, especially in tropical or subtropical regions. While malaria medications have shown success in treating malaria, there is still a problem with resistance to these drugs. Herein, we designed and synthesized some structurally novel benzotriazole‐β‐lactams using 2‐(1H‐benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol‐1‐yl)acetic acid as a key intermediate. To synthesize the target molecules, the ketene‐imine cycloaddition reaction was employed. First, The reaction of 1H‐benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole with 2‐bromoacetic acid in aqueous sodium hydroxide yielded 2‐(1H‐benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol‐1‐yl)acetic acid. Then, the treatment of 2‐(1H‐benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol‐1‐yl)acetic acid with tosyl chloride, triethyl amine, and Schiff base provided new β‐lactams in good to moderate yields.The formation of all cycloadducts was confirmed by elemental analysis, FT‐IR, NMR and mass spectral data. Moreover, X‐ray crystallography was used to determine the relative stereochemistry of 4a compound. The in vitro antimalarial activity test was conducted for each compound against P. falciparum K1. The IC₅₀ values ranged from 5.56 to 25.65 μM. A cytotoxicity profile of the compounds at 200 μM final concentration revealed suitable selectivity of the compounds for malaria treatment. Furthermore, the docking study was carried out for each compound into the P. falciparum dihydrofolate reductase enzyme (PfDHFR) binding site to analyze their possible binding orientation in the active site.

β ‐Lactam antibiotics are critical antibacterial agents and have rapidly become active ingredients in modern medicine. On the other hand, in the face of increasing rate of antibacterial resistance, there are many concerns requiring the design and synthesis of new antibacterial agents. Herein, we synthesized some monocyclic β ‐lactams with various substituents through the Staudinger cycloaddition reaction. The formation of cycloadducts was confirmed by elemental analysis and different spectral data, including NMR, FTIR, and Mass spectroscopy. The investigation of in vitro antibacterial activity of synthesized β ‐lactams was performed against some broad‐spectrum strains, including Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), streptococcus aureus ( S. aureus ), Salmonella Typhi ( S. Typhi ), Enterococcus faecalis ( E. faecalis ), and Candida albicans ( C. albicans ) and also some nosocomial multidrug‐resistant pathogens such as methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ), and vancomycin‐resistant enterococci ( VRE ). Penicillin Binding Proteins (PBPs) are responsible for the cell wall synthesis process as an enzymatic target for β ‐lactam antibiotics. The molecular docking study exhibited a good correlation between the calculated binding affinity to PBP and the experimental data. Based on the obtained results, compound 4 d was successfully fitted in the BPB active site, and could potentially serve as a promising lead compound for the treatment of infectious diseases.

The development of sustainable, cost-effective, and un-depleted energy resources is a demanding challenge. Harvesting an abundant source of energy, such as solar light, is one of the promising ways, to convert sunlight through a semiconductor directly into electricity. Varieties of solar cells based on silicon, thin-film, and emerging solar cells are being developed to address these challenges, and some of them have reached market maturity. Emerging solar cells also provide the possibility of manufacturing flexible devices with high efficiency, low material use, and subsequently low-module cost. Among them, perovskite solar cells have emerged as being efficient with potential for a commercial endeavor. Nonetheless, there is a window of opportunity that exists to improve the lifetime, photovoltaic (PV) performances and to further reduce the cost before its commercial viability. Employing polymers is one of the promising strategies to increase the reliability and upgrade the PV performances, such as improving fill factor (FF), open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), and thus power conversion efficiency. Here, we present the recent progress in the use of polymeric materials as charge transporting (electron and hole-selective) layers, interfacial layers, and additives, to improve stability and photovoltaic properties.

The use of larvicides, especially in endemic regions, is recommended for malaria control. However, due to the excessive use of synthetic larvicides, resistance in mosquitoes and environmental pollution have been challenges. In the current study, nanoliposome containing clove and cinnamon essential oils and their major ingredients, i.e., eugenol and cinnamaldehyde, were first prepared; particle size and successful loading were investigated using DLS (Dynamic Light Scattering) and ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform InfraRed) analysis. Larvicidal effects of the nanoliposomes and nonformulated samples were then investigated against Anopheles stephensi. The best-observed efficacy (LC₅₀ 5.4μg/mL) was related to nanoliposomes containing eugenol with a particle size of 109±4nm. However, LC₅₀ values of the other three nanoformulations were also around 10μg/mL; all four prepared nanoformulations were thus introduced as natural larvicides for further investigations in the field conditions.

In our ongoing search for bioactive compounds, a class of novel spiro-β-lactam isatin hybrids have been obtained by [2+2] cycloaddition reaction from 1-allyl-3-(arylimino)indolin-2-one and ketenes from various aryloxy acetic acids. The formation of all cycloadducts were confirmed by FTIR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and Mass spectra as well as elemental analyses. The new β-lactams were evaluated for their biological activities. The compounds 4a-g showed moderate to good activity against P. falciparum K1 strain and showed moderate to good activity. Among them, 4b and 4e demonstrated the best results with IC₅₀ of 5.04 and 7.18, respectively. The molecular docking simulation of 4b with P. falciparum dihydrofolate reductase enzyme (PfDHFR) binding site shown several intermolecular interactions that would be consider to design the future analogs of antimalarial agents. Moreover, all the synthesized β-lactams were evaluated against some gram positive and gram negative bacteria including E. coli ATCC 28922, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and S. aureus ATCC 25923 at the MIC level of 200 µg/mL and did not possess significant activity.