La prolifération d’espèces invasives est un problème mondial. Après la pollution et la destruction des habitats, l’introduction d’espèces exogènes est une des principales causes de la disparition de la biodiversité animale et végétale dans le monde. La Corse n’est pas épargnée par le phénomène ; en effet, chaque année nous dénombrons de plus en plus d’espèces végétales introduites, potentiellement envahissantes et dangereuses pour l’écosystème insulaire. Si elles ne sont pas contrôlées, ces plantes peuvent rapidement gagner du terrain et s’installer durablement en raison de leurs facultés d’adaptation à divers écosystèmes.C’est dans ce contexte que nous sommes intéressés à quatre plantes de la famille des Astéracées considérées comme envahissantes : deux espèces du genre Xanthium (Xanthium italicum et X. spinosum) et deux espèces du genre Senecio (Senecio angulatus et S. inaequidens). L’objectif principal était d’initier une possible voie de valorisation de ces espèces par la production d’huile essentielle ; cela permettrait d’une part de limiter la dissémination et d’autre part, de générer un débouché économique.Par ailleurs, nous avons étendu ce travail à Limbarda crithmoides et à six espèces du genre Senecio poussant à l’état spontané en Corse. Une approche chimiotaxonomique réalisée à partir de 180 échantillons d’huiles essentielles du genre Senecio a conduit à différencier les espèces dites halotolérantes (S. aquaticus, S. transiens et S. cineraria) des espèces plus « terrestres » (S. vulgaris, S. angulatus, S. inaequidens, S. serpentinicola et S. lividus). L’étude de la variabilité chimique intraspécifique a permis de mettre en évidence des corrélations entre la composition chimique des huiles essentielles et le polymorphisme des taxons et/ou des facteurs édaphiques. L’étude du genre Senecio a également conduit à la caractérisation de deux nouvelles molécules, l’oxyde d’acétoxybisabolène et le 8-acétoxybisabolène 1,9-diol, isolées de l’huile essentielle de S. transiens (espèce endémique de Corse).D’un point de vue plus appliqué, les mesures des activités anti-radicalaires et anticorrosives des huiles essentielles ont démontré le potentiel de certaines espèces comme sources d’anti-oxydants naturels (notamment, Xanthium italicum et X. spinosum) mais aussi le pouvoir anticorrosif de la cacalohastine, isolée de l’huile essentielle de S. inaequidens (espèce invasive). / The proliferation of invasive species is a global problem. The introduction of exogenous species is after pollution and habitat destruction a major cause of the disappearance of the worldwide plant and animal biodiversity. Corsica is not spare to the phenomenon and every year there are numerous dangerous species which are introduced to the island ecosystem.In this study, we have studied four invasive species of Asteraceae (X. italicum, X. spinosum, S. angulatus and S. inaequidens) from Corsica. The aim of this study is to initiate a possible valuation pathway of these species by production of their essential oils. For this purpose, we investigated the chemical variability of each essential oil and their antioxidant and anticorrosive activities. Then we have extended our investigations to the others species of Senecio genus and to Limbarda crithmoides, anciently parented taxa.GC and GC/MS analysis allowed the identification of 107 and 74 components which accounted for 98.7 and 93.5% of the X. italicum and X. spinosum essential oils, respectively. Essential oils of X. italicum and X. spinosum were dominated by hydrocarbon monoterpenes (66.2%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (41.5%), respectively. The same metabolomic pathways seem occur for both species during the vegetative cycle of the plant: oxygenated sesquiterpene-production was higher during the flowering stage. Moreover the study of 25 sample oils of X. italicum and X. spinosum showed that the chemical variability of both essential oils could be linked to morphological characters.A comprehensive work on the chemical variability of 180 sample oils of Senecio was carried out and 251 components were identified. Among them, using mono and bi-dimensional NMR the structures of 8-acetoxybisabolene-1,9-diol and 8-acetoxy-1,9-oxobisabolene, two new components of S. transiens essential oil were described for the first time. Corsican Senecio species exhibited interspecies chemical variability: the halotolerant Senecio species (S. transiens, S. cineraria and S. aquaticus erraticus) were characterized by essential oils dominated by non-terpenic compounds while the so-called “terrestrial” Senecio species (S. angulatus, S. ineaquidens, S. lividus, S. vulgaris and S. serpentinicola) exhibited terpenic component-rich oils. The study of intra-species chemical variability highlighted direct correlations between the plant-production of secondary metabolites and the nature of soils on which S. lividus, S. vulgaris and S. transiens grows. Hence essential oil compositions and morphological polymorphism are indirectly related. In the same way, the chemical variability of S. cineraria essential oils seems to be linked to the geology of the soils while the oil diversity of the invasive S. angulatus, could be linked to the both spots of introduction on Corsica Island. In addition, an original chiral-gas chromatographic method was improved and applied to the main components of the essential oils in order to complement the chemical composition of the Senecio sample oils.Furthermore the originality of Corsican Limbarda crithmoides essential was highlighted by the occurrence of two p-cymenene derivatives, never reported in the related studies from literature. The investigation of 25 Corsican L. crithmoides focuses on a direct correlation between the water salinities of the plant locations and the chemical compositions of the essential oils.Finally the antioxidant activities, anti-free radical and reducing power, were measured on some essential oils of the studied species. Essential oils of the Xanthium genus appeared to be most effectives. In addition, anticorrosion properties of the essential oils were investigated and the best corrosion inhibiting activity was exhibited by those of S. inaequidens . Anticorrosion activity could be attributed to the cacalohastine, a naphtalofuranic component, isolated form the whole essential oil after column chromatography.

Targeting DNA has the advantage over proteins for cancer remediation because of the fewer copies of the ligands required for the desired therapeutic effect. Traditionally, covalent DNA binders like alkylating agents have been used to induce genetic instability through the formation of DNA lesions and strand breaks, leading to cellular apoptosis. The primary drawback of this treatment is the non-specific binding that affects both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. G-quadruplexes are the DNA secondary structures that are present in abundance near the promoter regions of the oncogenes and are involved in the regulation of their activities. A ligand-mediated stabilization of G-quadruplexes in the promoter regions and down-regulation of the associated oncogenes have been validated. In contrast to alkylating agents, G-quadruplex ligands induce genetic stabilization through non-covalent interactions. They can be designed to interact specifically with G-quadruplex DNA over duplex DNA, which reduce side effects arising from the off-targeting. G-quadruplex ligands invariably have the large planar aromatic moiety to interact with G-quadruplexes through π- π stacking interactions. For determining the size effect of the aromatic moiety on stabilization of G-quadruplexes, a series of ligands were synthesized by conjugating nucleobases or 1,10-phenanthroline with an aminoglycoside, neomycin. The resulting conjugates increased the binding affinity synergistically and enabled us to study the effect of the stacking moiety required for G-quadruplex stabilization. Nucleobase-neomycin conjugates did not show stabilization stabilize of human telomeric G-quadruplex. 1,10-Phenanthroline-neomycin conjugate (7b) on the other hand binds to human telomeric G-quadruplex with a Ka of (8.92.4)×108 M-1 and inhibits telomerase activity at 1.56 µM probably through G-quadruplex stabilization. Moving forward, we further enlarged the aromatic moiety by tethering two 1,10-phenantholine molecules together through a five-atom linker. The resulting molecule (2-Clip-phen) was conjugated with various amino-containing side chains. 2-Clip-phen derivatives showed at least 30 times weaker binding to duplex DNA over G-quadruplex DNA. In addition, compounds showed a preference for the antiparallel G-quadruplex conformation over parallel and hybrid G-quadruplex conformations, as shown in the CD spectroscopy studies. Ligands 11 and 13 induced the formation of an antiparallel G-quadruplex from random coils and stabilize it to 60 oC (Tm) in a salt-free condition. Mass spectrometry study showed the formation of a two-tetrad G-quadruplex with the 2-Clip-phen ligand. Docking study showed that the ligand interacts most favorably with antiparallel G-quadruplex conformation, which is supported further by the larger thermal stabilization effect on antiparallel G-quadruplex compared with other G-quadruplex conformations. Our study suggests that 2-Clip-phen can be used as a scaffold for designing G-quadruplex binding ligands that preferentially bind to antiparallel G-quadruplexes, which has never been reported before.