Dihydropyrimidines are widely recognized for their diverse biological properties and are often synthesized by the Biginelli reactions. In this backdrop, a novel series of Biginelli dihydropyrimidines were designed, synthesized, purified, and analyzed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectrometry. Anticancer activity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells was evaluated as part of their cytotoxicity in comparison with the normal Vero cells. The cytotoxicity of dihydropyrimidines ranges from moderate to significant. Among the 38 dihydropyrimidines screened, compounds 16, 21, and 39 exhibited significant cytotoxicity. These 3 compounds were subjected to flow cytometry studies and EGFRwt Kinase inhibition assay using lapatinib as a standard. The study included evaluation for the inhibition of EGFR and HER2 expression at five different concentrations. At a concentration of 1000 nM compound 21 showed 98.51 % and 96.79 % inhibition of EGFR and HER2 expression. Moreover, compounds 16, 21 and 39 significantly inhibited EGFRwt activity with IC50 = 69.83, 37.21 and 76.79 nM, respectively. In addition, 3D-QSAR experiments were conducted to elucidate Structure activity relationships in a 3D grid space by comparing the experimental and predicted cytotoxic activities. Molecular docking studies were performed to validate the results by in silico method. All together, we developed a new series of Biginelli dihydropyrimidines as dual EGFR/HER2 inhibitors.

Malaria is one of the most known vector-borne diseases caused by female Anopheles mosquito bites. According to WHO, about 247 million cases of malaria and 619,000 deaths were estimated worldwide in 2021, of which 95% of the cases and 96% of deaths occurred in the African region. Sadly, about 80% of all malaria deaths were of children under five years old. Despite the availability of different insecticides used to control this disease, the emergence of drug-resistant mosquitoes threatens public health. This, in turn, highlighted the need for new larvicidal agents that are effective at different larval life stages. This study aimed to identify novel larvicidal agents. To this end, a series of ethyl 2,4,6-trisubstituted-1,4-dihydropyrimidine-5-carboxylates 8a-i was synthesized using a three-step chemical synthetic approach via a Biginelli reaction employed as a key step. All title compounds were screened against Anopheles arabiensis to determine their larvicidal activities. Among them, two derivatives, ethyl 2-((4-bromophenyl)amino)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-6-methyl-1,4-dihydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate 8b and ethyl 2-((4-bromo-2-cyanophenyl)amino)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-6-methyl-1,4-dihydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate 8f, showed the highest larvicidal activity, with mortality of 94% and 91%, respectively, and emerged as potential larvicidal agents. In addition, computational studies, including molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, were carried out to investigate their mechanism of action. The computational results showed that acetylcholinesterase appears to be a plausible molecular target for their larvicidal property.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The Biginelli reaction has received significant consideration in recent years due to its easily accessible aldehyde, urea/thiourea, and active methylene compounds. When it comes to pharmacological applications, the Biginelli reaction end-products, the 2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidines, are vital in pharmacological applications. Due to the ease of carrying out the Biginelli reaction, it offers a number of exciting prospects in various fields. Catalysts, however, play an essential role in Biginelli\'s reaction. In the absence of a catalyst, it is difficult to form products with a good yield. Many catalysts have been used in search of efficientmethodologies, including biocatalysts, Brønsted/Lewis acids, heterogeneous catalysts, organocatalysts, and so on. Nanocatalysts are currently being applied in the Biginelli reaction to improve the environmental profile as well as speed up the reaction process. This review describes the catalytic role in the Biginelli reaction and pharmacological application of 2-oxo/thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidines. This study provides information that will facilitate the development of newer catalytic methods for the Biginelli reaction, by academics as well as industrialists. It also offers a broad scope for drug design strategies, which may enable the development of novel and highly effective bioactive molecules.

Lung, colorectal, and breast cancers are the top three types of cancer by incidence and are responsible for one-third of the cancer incidence and mortality. A series of 18 3,4-dihydropyrimidine analogues bearing a 1,2-methylenedioxybenzene component at position 4 with diverse side chains at positions 5 and 6 was designed and synthesized as inhibitors of the Eg5 kinesin enzyme. Target compounds were screened for their anticancer activity according to the NCI-USA protocol toward a panel of 60 cancer cell lines. Compounds 12a and 12b displayed the best antiproliferation activity against many cell lines. Interestingly, compound 12a displayed lethal effects against non-small-cell lung cancer NCI-H522 cells (-42.26%) and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells (-1.10%) at a single-dose assay concentration of 10-5  M. Compounds 11c, 11d, 11g, 12a-d, 13, 15, and 18a were assayed against the kinesin enzyme, with IC50 values ranging from 1.2 to 18.71 μM, which were more potent compared with monastrol (IC50  = 20 μM). Cell cycle analysis of NCI-H522 cells treated with compound 12a showed cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. Furthermore, the expression levels of active caspase-3 and -9 were measured. A molecular docking study was performed for some demonstrative compounds as well as monastrol docked into the allosteric binding site of the kinesin spindle protein.

The series of des-Cl (unsubstituted) and m-Cl phenyl analogues of PYR with various flexible 6-substituents were synthesized and studied for the binding affinities with highly resistant quadruple mutant (QM) DHFR. The derivatives carrying 4 atoms linker with a terminal carboxyl substituted on the aromatic ring exhibited good inhibition to the QM enzyme and also showed effective antimalarial activities against resistant P. falciparum bearing the mutant enzymes with relatively low cytotoxicity to mammalian cells. The X-ray crystallographic analysis of the enzyme-inhibitor complexes suggested that the hydrophobic substituent at 6-position was accommodated well in the hydrophobic pocket and the optimal length of the flexible linker could effectively promote the binding of the terminal carboxyl group to the key amino acid residues, Arg59 and Arg122.

New dihydropyrimidines bearing various lipophilic pharmacophores and functionalities at position 3 were designed and synthesized. The basic framework of the new compounds was designed to maintain the main structural requirements for calcium channel blocking activity of the known dihydropyridines and dihydropyrimidines calcium channel blockers. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated as antagonists for CaV1.2 and CaV3.2 using the whole-cell patch clamp technique. Seven compounds (4b, 4c, 6c, 9, 13c, 13e and 17b) showed promising dual calcium channel blocking activity and three compounds (13b, 14b and 17a) were selective against Cav3.2. Their drug-likeness has been assessed using Molinspiration and Molsoft softwares. Their physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetic profiles recommend that they can be considered as drug-like candidates.

Dihydropyrimidine derivatives possess many biological activities due to presence of pyrimidine ring structure in various nucleic acids, vitamins, coenzymes, uric acid and their derivatives. They have possessed broad spectrum actions like antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer and antihypertensive etc. Before synthesis of compounds, it is good to predict biological activity using in silico methods. Here, we have selected some of N (3a-f) and O (4a-f) mannich bases of dihydro pyrimidine derivatives emphasized on histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC-4) inhibitions activity. We have used the different software tools like Lipinski\'s rule of five; pass online; osiris property explorer and docking studies to predict anti cancer activity. All the selected compounds exhibited potential drug like molecule with anti cancer activity. Among all compound the substitution with methoxy group (3c) exhibited more drugs like property and substation with hydrogens (4a) showed high anti neoplastic activity; whereas substitution with dichloro groups (4e) showed more drug docking scores. These were compared with standard drugs tamoxifen and 5-flourouracil. The approach of predicting anticancer activity using in silico method may be more useful to select and synthesis novel compounds in research as well as in industry.

In our previous report, we have identified 3,4-dihydropyrimidine scaffold as promising class of urease inhibitor in a structure based virtual screen (SBVS) experiment. In present study, we attempted to optimize the scaffold by varying C-5 substituent. The elongation of the C-5 chain was achieved by the reaction of C-5 ester with hydrazine leading to C-5 carbohydrazides which were further used as building blocks for the synthesis of fifteen new compounds having diverse moieties. A significantly higher in vitro urease inhibitory activity with IC50 values in submicromolar range was observed for semithiocarbazide derivatives (4a-c, 0.58-0.79µM) and isatin Schiff base derivative 5a (0.23µM). Docking analysis suggests that the synthesized compounds were anchored well in the catalytic site and extending to the entrance of binding pocket and thus restrict the mobility of the flap by interacting with its key amino acid residues. The overall results of urease inhibition have shown that these compounds can be further optimized and developed as lead urease inhibitors.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the main cause of deaths worldwide. Up-to-date, hypertension is the most significant contributing factor to CVDs. Recent clinical studies recommend calcium channel blockers (CCBs) as effective treatment alone or in combination with other medications. Being the most clinically useful CCBs, 1,4-dihydropyridines (DHPs) attracted great interest in improving potency and selectivity. However, the short plasma half-life which may be attributed to the metabolic oxidation to the pyridine-counterparts is considered as a major limitation for this class. Among the most efficient modifications of the DHP scaffold, is the introduction of biologically active N3-substituted dihydropyrimidine mimics (DHPMs). Again, some potent DHPMs showed only in vitro activity due to first pass effect through hydrolysis and removal of the N3-substitutions. Herein, the synthesis of new N3-substituted DHPMs with various functionalities linked to the DHPM core via two-carbon spacer to guard against possible metabolic inactivation is described. It was designed to keep close structural similarities to clinically efficient DHPs and the reported lead DHPMs analogues, while attempting to improve the pharmacokinetic properties through better metabolic stability. Applying whole batch clamp technique, five compounds showed promising L- and T- type calcium channel blocking activity and were identified as lead compounds. Structure requirements for selectivity against Cav1.2 as well against Cav3.2 are described.

Low-voltage-activated calcium channels are important regulators of neurotransmission and membrane ion conductance. A plethora of intracellular events rely on their modulation. Accordingly, they are implicated in many disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson\'s disease, pain and other neurological diseases. Among different subfamilies, T-type calcium channels, and in particular the CaV3.2 isoform, were shown to be involved in nociceptive neurotransmission. The role of CaV3.2 in pain modulation was supported by demonstrating selective antisense oligonucleotide-mediated CaV3.2 knockdown, in vivo antinociceptive effects of T-type blockers, and pain attenuation in CaV3.2 knockout formalin-induced pain model. These Emerging investigations have provided new insights into targeting T-type calcium channels for pain management. Within this scope, various T-type calcium channel blockers have been developed such as mibefradil and ethosuximide. Although being active, most of these molecules interact with other receptors as well. This addresses the need for T-selectivity. Few selective T-type channel blockers of diverse chemical classes were developed such as ABT-639 and TTA-P2. Interestingly, R(-) efonidipine which is a dihydropyridine (DHP) showed T-channel selectivity. Systematic modification of 1,4-dihydropyridine scaffold introduced novel derivatives with 40-fold T-type selectivity over L-type calcium channels. Along these lines, substitution of the DHP core with various analogues favored T-selectivity and may serve as novel pharmacophores. Several dihydropyrimidine (DHPM) mimics were introduced by Squibb as potential candidates. As a continuation of this approach, the current study describes the synthesis of Novel N3 substituted DHPMs with structure similarities to the active DHPs. Different functional groups were introduced to the N3 position through a spacer to gain more information about activity and selectivity. Furthermore, the spacer aims at improving the metabolic stability of the molecules. Initial screening data by whole patch clamp technique showed a robust inhibition of Cav3.2 T-type channels by eleven compounds. Interestingly, four compounds of these were efficient selective T-type blockers. Based on selectivity and efficiency, two compounds were selected for in vivo evaluation in mouse models of inflammatory pain. Results showed effective attenuation of nociception and mechanical hypersensitivity.