Synthesis and antiviral and fungicidal activity evaluation of β-carboline, dihydro-β-carboline, tetrahydro-β-carboline alkaloids, and their derivatives

J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Feb 5;62(5):1010-8. doi: 10.1021/jf404840x. Epub 2014 Jan 24.

Abstract

Six known β-carboline, dihydro-β-carboline, and tetrahydro-β-carboline alkaloids and a series of their derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their anti-tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and fungicidal activities for the first time. All of the alkaloids and some of their derivatives (compounds 3, 4, 14, and 19) exhibited higher anti-TMV activity than the commercial antiviral agent Ribavirin both in vitro and in vivo. Especially, the inactivation, curative, and protection activities of alkaloids Harmalan (62.3, 55.1, and 60.3% at 500 μg/mL) and tetrahydroharmane (64.2, 57.2, and 59.5% at 500 μg/mL) in vivo were much higher than those of Ribavirin (37.4, 36.2, and 38.5% at 500 μg/mL). A new derivative, 14, with optimized physicochemical properties, obviously exhibited higher activities in vivo (50.4, 43.9, and 47.9% at 500 μg/mL) than Ribavirin and other derivatives; therefore, 14 can be used as a new lead structure for the development of anti-TMV drugs. Moreover, most of these compounds exhibited good fungicidal activity against 14 kinds of fungi, especially compounds 4, 7, and 11.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkaloids / chemical synthesis*
  • Alkaloids / chemistry
  • Alkaloids / pharmacology*
  • Antiviral Agents / chemical synthesis*
  • Antiviral Agents / chemistry
  • Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
  • Carbolines / chemical synthesis*
  • Carbolines / chemistry
  • Carbolines / pharmacology*
  • Drug Design
  • Fungi / drug effects
  • Fungicides, Industrial / chemical synthesis*
  • Fungicides, Industrial / chemistry
  • Fungicides, Industrial / pharmacology*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Tobacco Mosaic Virus / drug effects

Substances

  • Alkaloids
  • Antiviral Agents
  • Carbolines
  • Fungicides, Industrial
  • tryptoline