Furanoeliangolidos são produtos naturais biologicamente ativos que contêm um esqueleto 11-oxabiciclo[6.2.1]undecano. Neste trabalho nós estudamos duas propostas sintéticas para síntese de um modelo simplificado do furanoeliangolido goiazensolido, através de uma reação de Diels-Alder seguida de clivagem da ligação central dos anéis. No desenvolvimento da primeira proposta nós preparamos o composto mesilato, porém as tentativas de efetuar a reação de eliminação resultaram em mistura complexa ou em produtos indesejados. Na proposta seguinte preparamos o éster, e testamos dois caminhos alternativos, entre várias possibilidades, para dar continuidade à síntese. No primeiro caminho o éster foi hidrolisado ao ácido, mas não foi possível obter a amida de Weinreb correspondente. No segundo caminho, o éster foi reduzido ao álcool, que foi oxidado ao aldeído; quando tratado com o ânion da hidrazona, o aldeído forneceu a hidrazona correspondente ao invés do esperado produto de adição de carbânion. Outras alternativas deverão ser investigadas no futuro. / Furanoheliangolides are biologically active natural products containing a 11-oxabicyclo[6.2.1]undecane skeleton. In this work we have investigated two different approaches to synthesize a model of the core structure of goyazensolide. Both approaches involve a Diels-Alder reaction and a bond breaking reaction to produce the polycyclic structure. In the first proposal we prepared mesylate compound. Attempts to effect an elimination reaction, however, resulted either in complex mixture or in undesired products. In the second proposal we prepared ester and investigated two alternative paths, out of several possibilities, to proceed the synthesis. In the first, ester was hydrolyzed to acid, but it was not possible to obtain the corresponding Weinreb amide. In the second path the ester was reduced to alcohol, that was oxidized to aldehyde; this, when treated with the anion from hydrazone, furnished hydrazone instead of the expected product of carbanion addition. Further studies should be developed in the future.

As lignanas naturais possuem vários tipos de estruturas que exibem uma vasta gama de atividades biológicas. As lignano-lactonas naturais, tais como a arctigenina (1) e os derivados da podofilotoxina (2), representadas nas estruturas abaixo, são conhecidas por apresentarem atividades citotóxicas e, há várias décadas, vêm despertando enorme interesse em virtude de suas propriedades anti-cancerígenas e anti-HIV. Apesar de haver numerosos tipos de síntese racêmica e vários exemplos de síntese assimétrica desses compostos, os métodos sintéticos tradicionais geralmente empregados não são convenientes para a preparação em larga escala desses compostos opticamente puros, em virtude da necessidade de utilizar quantidades estequiométricas de fontes quirais e/ou grande seqüência de etapas sintéticas. Em vista disso, um método mais eficiente para realizar a síntese enantiosseletiva desses produtos naturais é através da catálise assimétrica utilizando materiais de partida proquirais. Trabalhos anteriores realizados em nosso laboratório serviram para testar alguns métodos sintéticos descritos na literatura. Entretanto, como esses métodos são relativamente longos e produzem baixos rendimentos, optamos por testar um método alternativo para a obtenção de lignano-lactonas naturais biologicamente ativas, tais como a parabenzlactona (51) e a oxoparabenzlactona (52), cujas estruturas são mostradas a seguir. Esses dois compostos, além de apresentarem propriedades biológicas úteis, podem ser transformados em outros produtos naturais de interesse, tais como as lignanas do tipo dibenzilbutirolactonas, ariltetralinas e furofurânicas. Os materiais de partida utilizados nessa nova metodologia sintética foram os derivados protegidos de 3-hidroximetil--butirolactona (50), os quais, neste trabalho, foram sintetizados através da hidrogenação enantiosseletiva de derivados insaturados produzidos a partir do ácido 3,3-dimetilacrílico (81). Os estudos de hidrogenação enantiosseletiva foram realizados utilizando catalisadores quirais de ródio e rutênio. Diversos derivados de butenolidas foram estudados com intuito de se obter o intermediário 50 de maneira enantiosseletiva e com rendimentos satisfatórios. Os resultados obtidos nas reações de hidrogenação catalítica dessas butenolidas com complexos quirais de ródio e rutênio mostraram que a quelação do substrato com o centro metálico do catalisador assimétrico é fortemente afetada pelo tipo de substituinte ligado no esqueleto da butenolida. De maneira geral, os produtos de hidrogenação foram obtidos com larga faixa de pureza óptica (2-100% ee) dependendo do tipo de substituinte. Esses resultados indicam uma importante influência dos grupos protetores da função hidroxila alilíca nas reações de hidrogenação assimétrica dos derivados das butenolidas estudados. A fim de se investigar o mecanismo de complexação dos substratos com os catalisadores quirais, simulações computacionais foram realizadas com o catalisador quiral cloreto de [(S)-(?)-2,2?-bis-(difenilfosfino)-1,1-binaftil]cloro(p-cimeno) rutênio e os substratos derivados da 3-hidroximetilbutenolida. Os resultados dos estudos computacionais realizados até o momento mostraram que a ocorrência de mais de um ponto de complexação entre o substrato e o centro metálico do catalisador quiral diminui a energia de ativação do intermediário-chave, aumentando a atividade catalítica e resultando em alta estereosseletividade. Uma vez concluídos os estudos de hidrogenação enantiosseletiva, prosseguiu-se os estudos para a obtenção dos produtos naturais de interesse, a partir de um dos intermediários racêmicos derivados da 3-hidroximetilbutenolida, contendo o metoximetil-éter como grupo protetor. O aldeído intermediário 87, obtido em baixo rendimento, deverá ser transformado nos diversos produtos naturais de interesse. Por causa de sua grande instabilidade, já descrita na literatura, novas metodologias estão sendo testadas para a obtenção do aldeído 87 com melhor rendimento. As lignanas naturais possuem vários tipos de estruturas que exibem uma vasta gama de atividades biológicas. As lignano-lactonas naturais, tais como a arctigenina (1) e os derivados da podofilotoxina (2), representadas nas estruturas abaixo, são conhecidas por apresentarem atividades citotóxicas e, há várias décadas, vêm despertando enorme interesse em virtude de suas propriedades anti-cancerígenas e anti-HIV. Apesar de haver numerosos tipos de síntese racêmica e vários exemplos de síntese assimétrica desses compostos, os métodos sintéticos tradicionais geralmente empregados não são convenientes para a preparação em larga escala desses compostos opticamente puros, em virtude da necessidade de utilizar quantidades estequiométricas de fontes quirais e/ou grande seqüência de etapas sintéticas. Em vista disso, um método mais eficiente para realizar a síntese enantiosseletiva desses produtos naturais é através da catálise assimétrica utilizando materiais de partida proquirais. Trabalhos anteriores realizados em nosso laboratório serviram para testar alguns métodos sintéticos descritos na literatura. Entretanto, como esses métodos são relativamente longos e produzem baixos rendimentos, optamos por testar um método alternativo para a obtenção de lignano-lactonas naturais biologicamente ativas, tais como a parabenzlactona (51) e a oxoparabenzlactona (52), cujas estruturas são mostradas a seguir. Esses dois compostos, além de apresentarem propriedades biológicas úteis, podem ser transformados em outros produtos naturais de interesse, tais como as lignanas do tipo dibenzilbutirolactonas, ariltetralinas e furofurânicas. Os materiais de partida utilizados nessa nova metodologia sintética foram os derivados protegidos de 3-hidroximetil-?-butirolactona (50), os quais, neste trabalho, foram sintetizados através da hidrogenação enantiosseletiva de derivados insaturados produzidos a partir do ácido 3,3-dimetilacrílico (81). Os estudos de hidrogenação enantiosseletiva foram realizados utilizando catalisadores quirais de ródio e rutênio. Diversos derivados de butenolidas foram estudados com intuito de se obter o intermediário 50 de maneira enantiosseletiva e com rendimentos satisfatórios. Os resultados obtidos nas reações de hidrogenação catalítica dessas butenolidas com complexos quirais de ródio e rutênio mostraram que a quelação do substrato com o centro metálico do catalisador assimétrico é fortemente afetada pelo tipo de substituinte ligado no esqueleto da butenolida. De maneira geral, os produtos de hidrogenação foram obtidos com larga faixa de pureza óptica (2-100% ee) dependendo do tipo de substituinte. Esses resultados indicam uma importante influência dos grupos protetores da função hidroxila alilíca nas reações de hidrogenação assimétrica dos derivados das butenolidas estudados. A fim de se investigar o mecanismo de complexação dos substratos com os catalisadores quirais, simulações computacionais foram realizadas com o catalisador quiral cloreto de [(S)-(?)-2,2?-bis-(difenilfosfino)-1,1?-binaftil]cloro(p-cimeno) rutênio e os substratos derivados da 3-hidroximetilbutenolida. Os resultados dos estudos computacionais realizados até o momento mostraram que a ocorrência de mais de um ponto de complexação entre o substrato e o centro metálico do catalisador quiral diminui a energia de ativação do intermediário-chave, aumentando a atividade catalítica e resultando em alta estereosseletividade. Uma vez concluídos os estudos de hidrogenação enantiosseletiva, prosseguiu-se os estudos para a obtenção dos produtos naturais de interesse, a partir de um dos intermediários racêmicos derivados da 3-hidroximetilbutenolida, contendo o metoximetil-éter como grupo protetor. O aldeído intermediário 87, obtido em baixo rendimento, deverá ser transformado nos diversos produtos naturais de interesse. Por causa de sua grande instabilidade, já descrita na literatura, novas metodologias estão sendo testadas para a obtenção do aldeído 87 com melhor rendimento. Estudos sobre a síntese enantiosseletiva de lignano-lactonas naturais contendo importantes atividades biológicas. Os estudos foram realizados utilizando catalisadores quirais de ródio e rutênio e foram avaliados a influência de grupos protetores da função hidroxila da butenolida estudada, frente ao catalisador analisado. / Natural lignans have several types of structures exhibiting a wide variety of biological activities. Natural lignan-lactones, such as arctigenin (1) and the podofilotoxin derivatives (2), are well known for their cytotoxic activities, and both their anti-cancer and anti-HIV properties have attracted much research interest in the last decades. Although numerous racemic syntheses and several examples of the asymmetric synthesis of these compounds have been largely employed, they are not useful for the large-scale preparation of optically pure compounds because stoichiometric amounts of chiral sources and/or la long sequence of synthetic reaction steps are necessary for their accomplishment. A more efficient method for the enantioselective synthesis of these natural products uses asymmetric catalysis with prochiral substances as starting materials. Previous works developed at our laboratory have employed some synthetic methods described in the literature to investigate the synthesis of some natural products. However, these methods involve several synthetic steps and lead to low yields. These facts have thus stimulated us to develop an alternative method for the obtention of biologically active natural lignan-lactones such as parabenzlactone (51) and oxo-parabenzlactone (52). Besides their useful biological properties, these compounds can also be transformed into other interesting natural products, such as aryltetralin, dibenzylbutyrolactone, and furofuran lignans. Protected derivatives of 3-hydroxymethyl-?-butyrolactone (50) were used as the starting materials of this new methodology. These derivatives were synthesized using the enantioselective hydrogenation of the unsaturated material produced from 3,3-dimethylacrylic acid (81). Enantioselective hydrogenation studies were performed using rhodium and ruthenium chiral catalysts Several butenolides derivatives were studied aiming at the obtention of a satisfactory yield of the enantioselective intermediate (50). The catalytic hydrogenation of these butenolide derivatives with rhodium and ruthenium chiral complexes showed that chelation of the substrate with the metallic center of the asymmetric catalyst strongly depends on the substituent attached to the butenolide skeleton. The hydrogenation products were obtained with a large range of optical purity (2-100% ee), depending on the substituent type. These results indicate that the presence of protective groups in the allylic hydroxyl function has a strong effect on the asymmetric hydrogenation reaction of the studied butenolides. Some computer simulations were performed in order to investigate the mechanism of substrate complexation with the chiral catalyst. [(S)-(?)-2,2?-bis-(diphenylphosphino)-1,1?-binaphtyl]chloro(p-cymene) chloride ruthenium was the chiral catalyst and 3-hydroxymethylbutenolide derivatives were used as substrates. The computer simulation results obtained to date have shown that when there is more than one point of complexation between the metallic center of the chiral catalyst and the unsaturated substrate, the activation energy of the key intermediate is lowered, thus enhancing the catalytic activity and resulting in high stereoselectivity. Once the enantioselective hydrogenation studies were concluded, we pursued the synthesis of natural products from one of the racemic derivatives, the one containing a methoxymethylether as protective group. Once the intermediate aldehyde 87 is obtained, a large number of interesting natural products could be synthesized. New methodologies are now under investigation in order to obtain aldehyde 87, which is difficult to achieve due to its low stability, as described in the literature.

A presente investigação teve por objetivo o isolamento de metabólitos secundários biologicamente ativos de nudibrânquios, moluscos conhecidos por produzirem ou acumularem substâncias a partir de suas presas. Foram investigados extratos de quatro espécies de nudibrânquios marinhos juntamente com suas respectivas presas. Além disso, também foi investigado o extrato ativo da esponja marinha Agelas sventres. O estudo realizado com o extrato bruto da esponja marinha Agelas sventres levou ao isolamento de uma série de alcalóides bromopirrólicos, compostos tipicamente encontrados em esponjas do gênero Agelas. Dentre os compostos isolados, a oroidina apresentou atividade inibitória frente à enzima Pdr5p de Saccharomyces cerevisiae. O estudo do nudibrânquio Tambja stegosauriformis e de sua presa, o briozoário Bugula sp., levou ao isolamento de diversos alcalóides da classe das tambjaminas. As tambjaminas C, D, K e o produto de hidrólise da tambjamina B foram observados nos dois animais; o produto de hidrólise da tambjamina A foi encontrado apenas no extrato do nudibrânquio, enquanto que a tambjamina A e um isômero da tambjamina J foram encontrados apenas no extrato do briozoário. O estudo do nudibrânquio Okenia zoobotryon e de sua presa, o briozoário Zoobotryon verticillatum, resultou no isolamento de um único alcalóide indólico conhecido, 2,5,6-tribromo-Nmetilgramina, presente nos dois animais. Resultados semelhantes foram obtidos a partir da investigação do extrato do nudibrânquio Hypselodoris lajensis e de sua presa, uma esponja do gênero Dysidea, com o isolamento de um único diterpeno, a lactona da furodisinina. Embora ambas substâncias sejam conhecidas, este foi o primeiro isolamento destes compostos a partir de espécies de nudibrânquios. Finalmente, a partir do extrato do nudibrânquio Pleurobranchus areolatus foram isoladas duas novas dicetopiperazinas modificadas, estruturalmente semelhantes às rodriguesinas A e B, outras dicetopiperazinas isoladas a partir da ascídia Didemnum sp., provável presa desta espécie de nudibrânquio. Vale ressaltar a utilização de análises por LC-UV-MS e MS/MS neste trabalho, que auxiliaram na identificação uma série de compostos presentes nos extratos estudados no presente trabalho, mesmo em quantidades muito pequenas. / Abstract The present investigation aimed the isolation of biologically active secondary metabolites from different species of nudibranchs, mollusks that can produce or accumulate substances from their preys. We investigated the extracts of four nudibranchs species and their respective preys. The active extract of the marine sponge Agelas sventres, has also been investigated. From the extract of the marine sponge Agelas sventres we could isolate a series of bromopyrrolic alkaloids, substances that are typically found in sponges of Agelas genus. Among the isolated compounds, oroidin was found to inhibit the activity and function of the Pdr5p enzyme from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. From the extract of the nudibranch Tambja stegosauriformis and its prey, the bryozoan Bugula sp., several known tambjamines alkaloids were isolated. The tambjamines C, D, K, and the aldehyde of the tambjamine B were found in both animals; aldehyde of tambjamine A was identified only in the nudibranch extract, whereas tambjamine A and an isomer of tambjamine J were found on the bryozoan. The study of the extract of the nudibranch Okenia zoobotryon and its prey, the bryozoan Zoobotryon verticillatum, resulted in the isolation of a single known brominated indole alkaloid, 2,5,6-tribromo-N-metilgramine, present on both animals. Similar results were obtained in the study of extract of the nudibranch Hypselodoris lajensis along with its prey, a Dysidea sponge, that led to the isolation of a single diterpene, the furodysinin lactone. Although both compounds are known, this is the first report on the isolation of those compounds from nudibranch species. Finally, the investigation of the extract from the nudibranch Pleurobranchus areolatus provided two new modified diketopiperazines, closely related to modified diketopiperazines, the rodriguesins A and B, isolated from the ascidian Didemnum sp. It is important to note the use of LC-UV-MS and MS/MS analysis in this work, which were important in the identification of several compounds present in the studied extracts in very small amounts.

Submitted by Biblioteca da Faculdade de Farmácia (bff@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-03-13T19:47:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Souza, Eloísa Portugal Barros Silva Soares de [Dissertação, 2016].pdf: 2352165 bytes, checksum: 60f359e59fc6b6d7aae22ce45641b075 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-13T19:47:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Souza, Eloísa Portugal Barros Silva Soares de [Dissertação, 2016].pdf: 2352165 bytes, checksum: 60f359e59fc6b6d7aae22ce45641b075 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo das plantas medicinais tem-se tornado uma importante fonte de pesquisa e interesse científico devido ao seu valor em nível de estrutura química e propriedades farmacológicas. A esquistossomose é um problema de saúde pública que atinge milhares de pessoas que vivem em áreas endêmicas. Por seu aspecto socioeconômico, devido à falta de saneamento básico eficiente em muitas áreas, está incluída entre as doenças negligenciadas. Seu tratamento é considerado eficaz, porém existe a necessidade de medidas profiláticas que reduzam o número de pessoas infectadas atendidas pelas redes de saúde coletiva. Dentre essas medidas, existe o combate ao hospedeiro intermediário do agente etiológico da doença, o caramujo de água doce do gênero Biomphalaria. Este molusco é crucial para a transmissão da doença, e seu controle iria interromper o ciclo da esquistossomose. O método de controle atualmente utilizado para este fim possui grande impacto ambiental, não sendo, portanto, uma alternativa viável. Nesse contexto, as plantas da Restinga de Jurubatiba possuem diversas atividades terapêuticas conhecidas popularmente ou cientificamente estudas. O uso de seus extratos pode ser uma importante estratégia para o controle do molusco e a consequente redução do número de pessoas que contraem a esquistossomose. O objetivo desse trabalho, portanto, é avaliar a atividade moluscicida dos extratos das plantas Eugenia sulcata, Manilkara subsericea, Neomitranthes obscura e Myrciaria floribunda, suas frações e substâncias isoladas, sobre a espécie Biomphalaria glabrata. Foi realizado o ensaio de atividade moluscicida para avaliar a letalidade dos extratos de plantas sobre a espécie Biomphalaria glabrata, em tempos de até 96 horas. E, para avaliar a toxidade dos extratos em células de linhagem, foram realizados ensaios de liberação da enzima lactato desidrogenase e redução da resazurina. Os resultados mostraram maior atividade moluscicida nas frações em hexano e diclorometano de Myrciaria floribunda, com valores de DL50 de 3,3 e 6,2 ppm respectivamente e, em menor escala, nos extratos brutos do caule de Neomitranthes obscura e Manilkara subsericea, e na fração acetato de etila desta última, da qual foram isoladas três substâncias: miricetina, quercetina e ácido ursólico, apresentando atividade moluscicida em menores concentrações, com valores de DL50 de 0,04 ppm, 0,08 ppm e 1,57 ppm respectivamente. Tais resultados não demonstraram toxidade em células de mamíferos. Este trabalho aponta para um foco de estudo para uma alternativa profilática para o controle do hospedeiro intermediário da esquistossomose mansônica. / The study of the medicinal plants has become a major source of research and scientific interest because of their value at the level of chemical structure and pharmacological properties. Schistosomiasis is a public health problem that affects thousands of people living in endemic areas. By their socioeconomic aspect, due to the lack of effective sanitation in many areas, it is included among the neglected diseases. The treatment is considered effective, but there is the need for effective preventive measures to reduce the numbers of infected people served by the public health networks. Among these measures, there is the fight against intermediate hosts of the disease, the freshwater snail Biomphalaria. This mollusk is crucial to the development of the disease and its control would stop the schistosomiasis cycle. The control method currently used for this purpose has a large environmental impact, and therefore not a viable alternative. In this context, plants from Jurubatiba sandbank have several therapeutic activities known popularly or scientifically studied. The use of its extracts may be an important strategy for the mollusk control and the consequent reduction in the number of people contracting schistosomiasis. The aim of this study, therefore, is to evaluate the molluscicidal activity of the extracts from plants Eugenia sulcata, Manilkara subsericea, Neomitranthes obscura and Myrciaria floribunda, its fractions and isolated compounds on the specie Biomphalaria glabrata. It carried out the molluscicidal activity assay to assess the lethality of plant extracts on Biomphalaria glabrata species at times up to 96 hours. In order to evaluate the toxicity of extracts of cell line were performed assays lactate dehydrogenase release and reduction of resazurin. The results showed higher molluscicidal activity in the fractions in hexane and dichloromethane of Myrciaria floribunda, with LD50 values of 3.3 and 6.2 ppm, respectively, and to a lesser extent, in stem crude extracts of Neomitranthes obscure and Manilkara subsericea, and the ethyl acetate fraction of the latter, from which three substances were isolated: myricetin, quercetin and ursolic acid, with molluscicidal activity at lower concentrations, with LD50 values of 0.04 ppm, 0.08 ppm and 1.57 ppm respectively. There is no toxicity in mammalian cells. This work points to a focus of study for a prophylactic alternative to control the intermediate host of schistosomiasis.

New methodology has been utilized to provoke or increase targeted metabolic pathways in microbes. The low hanging fruit of natural products has been discovered over the last 50 years. To continue finding new metabolites to be used as possible drug candidates, methodology development such as those proposed herein are necessary. This methodology uses extracts from known pathogenic bacteria to elicit production of latent biosynthetic pathways from environmental bacterial isolates that may be active against the original pathogenic strains. A new compound, MAV-1 (1) of the diketopiperazine family (Figure 1) was isolated and identified utilizing these techniques. The structure of MAV-1 (1) was defined by a combination of mass spectroscopy (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Discovery of MAV-1 (1), a possible precursor to other known compounds, demonstrates the continuing utility of microbial sources with new chemodiversity.

This thesis is concerned with the synthesis of chiral pyrrolidinone scaffolds as mimics of the natural product pramanicin, and the evaluation of their antibacterial properties for use towards the development of potential novel antibacterial lead compounds. Chapter 1 discusses the urgency of the antibiotic resistance problem as well as the current lack of new antibiotics in the drug pipeline. This dearth of new antibacterials is partly attributed to the combinatorial libraries used in the screening process which occupies a limited chemical space. By applying the natural product-inspired paradigm, it is hypothesised that a drug discovery process with a starting point based on a natural product, possessing intrinsic antibacterial properties, may provide insights to a novel class of antibacterials. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of three different scaffolds of oxygenated pyrrolidinones via a common bicyclic intermediate synthesised from L-pyroglutamic acid. The use of a mild and facile epoxidation condition utilising H₂O₂/tertiary amine afforded the epoxypyrrolidinones. α-Hydroxylation with “Davis oxaziridine” and a Ru-mediated dihydroxylation gave 2-hydroxypyrrolidinones and 2,3-dihydroxypyrrolidinones respectively. In all cases, a pendant Weinreb amide was used to introduce a variety of side-chains onto the parent pyrrolidinones. The enantioselective oxygenation of these scaffolds was accomplished as a result of the chiral [3.3.0] bicyclic intermediate. Chapter 3 describes the attempted synthesis of oxygenated pyrrolidinones via tetramic acids. Although progress was thwarted by synthetic challenges discussed therein, a series of tetramic acids was synthesised. A synthetic sequence to install a 3-acyl moiety onto the parent tetramic acid core was accomplished via an O-acyl/C-acyl rearrangement using a series of carboxylic acids in the presence of excess DMAP. The use of a 3-acyltetramic acid with a pendant phosphorane permits a general synthetic route, compatible with a wide range of aldehydes, towards 3-enoyltetramic acids via Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons olefination. These tetramic acids are mimics of another class of bactericidal natural products which nonetheless allows the natural product-inspired paradigm to be investigated. Finally, an analysis of the antibacterial properties of the synthesised compounds is discussed in Chapter 4. A cellular hole-plate bioassay with E. coli and S. aureus was chosen to provide a rapid assessment for active compounds. A correlation between the physicochemical properties and the observed activities of these active compounds suggested possible chemical modifications which could be undertaken in the future to improve their activities.

This thesis is concerned with the development of methodology for the asymmetric syntheses of the nakinadine family of marine alkaloids and through these synthetic endeavours, seeks to confirm the structure and assign the relative and absolute configurations of these alkaloids for the first time.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Drug-resistant infections are a global health crisis and drastically hinder the treatment options to effectively combat disease. Today, natural products remain an important source of novel drug candidates. Micro-organisms, in addition to being a source of bioactive natural products, represent a sustainable source of these compounds. As the marine environment is largely underexplored, the oceans represent a potential source of novel NPs. This study aimed at the discovery of novel NPs from bacteria associated with novel marine invertebrate species endemic to the South African coast, including a sponge Spongia (Spongia) sp. 001RSASPN and a tunicate, Pseudodistoma africanum Millar, 1954. The methodology comprised of culture-dependent and culture-independent strategies. The former involved the isolation of bacteria associated with the invertebrate species and subsequent screening for anti-microbial activity against a panel of indicator strains including a multi-drug resistant E. coli strain. Anti-bacterial activity was detected in 6.1% and 4% of bacterial isolates from the sponge and tunicate isolates respectively. The culture-independent strategy involved the use of PCR to select bioactive strains likely to contain novel NRPS or PKS secondary metabolite pathways. An NRPS A- domain exhibiting low sequence identity (65%) to reference sequences in the NCBI database was amplified from isolate PE8-15, a strain belonging to the genus Bacillus. This predicted a novel NRPS pathway within this strain. In addition, this isolate exhibited the most diverse anti-microbial profile including anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activity (A.fumigatus ATCC 46645). Therefore, as the most promising candidate, the genome of PE8-15 was sequenced following which 10 secondary metabolite pathways including bacteriocins (5), NRPS (3), siderophore (1) and a terpene pathway were identified. The A-domain amplified from PE8-15 originated from Cluster 4, and NRPS pathway predicted to encode a lipopeptide. Lipopeptides are an important class of compounds with a range of industrial applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic as well as food industry. The identification of potentially novel secondary metabolite pathways from even well- studied groups of organisms demonstrates the importance of sequence-based methods in natural product discovery. Furthermore, this study highlights the South African coast as a rich source of microbial natural products and should be exploited further for drug discovery.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Introduction: There is an exigent need to develop novel antimalarial drugs in view of the mounting disease burden and emergent resistance to the presently used drugs against the malarial parasites. A large amount of natural products, especially those used in ethnomedicine for malaria, have shown varying in-vitro antiplasmodial activities. Facilitating antimalarial drug development from this wealth of natural products is an imperative and laudable mission to pursue. However, the limited resources, high cost, low prospect and the high cost of failure during preclinical and clinical studies might militate against pursue of this mission. Chemoinformatics techniques can simulate and predict essential molecular properties required to characterize compounds thus eliminating the cost of equipment and reagents to conduct essential preclinical studies, especially on compounds that may fail during drug development. Therefore, applying chemoinformatics techniques on natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activities may facilitate identification and prioritization of these natural products with potential for novel mechanism of action, desirable pharmacokinetics and high likelihood for development into antimalarial drugs. In addition, unique structural features mined from these natural products may be templates to design new potential antimalarial compounds. Method: Four chemoinformatics techniques were applied on a collection of selected natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activity (NAA) and currently registered antimalarial drugs (CRAD): molecular property profiling, molecular scaffold analysis, machine learning and design of a virtual compound library. Molecular property profiling included computation of key molecular descriptors, physicochemical properties, molecular similarity analysis, estimation of drug-likeness, in-silico pharmacokinetic profiling and exploration of structure-activity landscape. Analysis of variance was used to assess statistical significant differences in these parameters between NAA and CRAD. Next, molecular scaffold exploration and diversity analyses were performed on three datasets (NAA, CRAD and malarial data from Medicines for Malarial Ventures (MMV)) using scaffold counts and cumulative scaffold frequency plots. Scaffolds from the NAA were compared to those from CRAD and MMV. A Scaffold Tree was also generated for all the datasets. Thirdly, machine learning approaches were used to build four regression and four classifier models from bioactivity data of NAA using molecular descriptors and molecular fingerprints. Models were built and refined by leave-one-out cross-validation and evaluated with an independent test dataset. Applicability domain (AD), which defines the limit of reliable predictability by the models, was estimated from the training dataset and validated with the test dataset. Possible chemical features associated with reported antimalarial activities of the compounds were also extracted. Lastly, virtual compound libraries were generated with the unique molecular scaffolds identified from the NAA. The virtual compounds generated were characterized by evaluating selected molecular descriptors, toxicity profile, structural diversity from CRAD and prediction of antiplasmodial activity. Results: From the molecular property profiling, a total of 1040 natural products were selected and a total of 13 molecular descriptors were analyzed. Significant differences were observed between the natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activities (NAA) and currently registered antimalarial drugs (CRAD) for at least 11 of the molecular descriptors. Molecular similarity and chemical space analysis identified NAA that were structurally diverse from CRAD. Over 50% of NAA with desirable drug-like properties were identified. However, nearly 70% of NAA were identified as potentially "promiscuous" compounds. Structure-activity landscape analysis highlighted compound pairs that formed "activity cliffs". In all, prioritization strategies for the natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activities were proposed. The scaffold exploration and analysis results revealed that CRAD exhibited greater scaffold diversity, followed by NAA and MMV respectively. Unique scaffolds that were not contained in any other compounds in the CRAD datasets were identified in NAA. The Scaffold Tree showed the preponderance of ring systems in NAA and identified virtual scaffolds, which maybe potential bioactive compounds or elucidate the NAA possible synthetic routes. From the machine learning study, the regression and classifier models that were most suitable for NAA were identified as model tree M5P (correlation coefficient = 0.84) and Sequential Minimization Optimization (accuracy = 73.46%) respectively. The test dataset fitted into the applicability domain (AD) defined by the training dataset. The “amine” group was observed to be essential for antimalarial activity in both NAA and MMV dataset but hydroxyl and carbonyl groups may also be relevant in the NAA dataset. The results of the characterization of the virtual compound library showed significant difference (p value < 0.05) between the virtual compound library and currently registered antimalarial drugs in some molecular descriptors (molecular weight, log partition coefficient, hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, polar surface area, shape index, chiral centres, and synthetic feasibility). Tumorigenic and mutagenic substructures were not observed in a large proportion (> 90%) of the virtual compound library. The virtual compound libraries showed sufficient diversity in structures and majority were structurally diverse from currently registered antimalarial drugs. Finally, up to 70% of the virtual compounds were predicted as active antiplasmodial agents. Conclusions:Molecular property profiling of natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activities (NAA) and currently registered antimalarial drugs (CRAD) produced a wealth of information that may guide decisions and facilitate antimalarial drug development from natural products and led to a prioritized list of natural products with in-vitro antiplasmodial activities. Molecular scaffold analysis identified unique scaffolds and virtual scaffolds from NAA that possess desirable drug-like properties, which make them ideal starting points for molecular antimalarial drug design. The machine learning study built, evaluated and identified amply accurate regression and classifier accurate models that were used for virtual screening of natural compound libraries to mine possible antimalarial compounds without the expense of bioactivity assays. Finally, a good amount of the virtual compounds generated were structurally diverse from currently registered antimalarial drugs and potentially active antiplasmodial agents. Filtering and optimization may lead to a collection of virtual compounds with unique chemotypes that may be synthesized and added to screening deck against Plasmodium.

This thesis presents an investigation of the 4-methoxypyrrolic constituents of two South African marine invertebrates, the nudibranch Tambja capensis and the bryozoan Bugula dentata. Three known compounds tambjamine A (7), tambjamine E (13) and the tetrapyrrole (15) were isolated during this investigation. All three compounds were shown to be active against oesophageal cancer in accordance with the general anticancer and immunosuppressive properties observed for 4-methoxypyrrolic natural products. Tambjamine A (7), tambjamine E (13) and the tetrapyrrole (15), together with tambjamine K (21) and L (22) (previously isolated in our laboratory) were used as standards to quantitatively assess the presence of these tambjamines in T. capensis and B. dentata collected from three different sites along the South African coast. This study confirmed that B. dentata is the source of the 4-methoxypyrrolic natural products sequestered by T. capensis and eliminated the closely related bryozoan B. neritina as a source of these metabolites. The paucity of tambjamine L (21) and K (22) obtained in previous investigations of the sequestered chemistry of T. capensis prompted an attempt at the development of synthetic methodology that could be used to synthesize tambjamines in sufficient yield for in depth bioactivity studies. In order to by pass the extensively reported problems associated with the synthesis of this group of compound 3-methoxy-2-formylpyrrole (47), readily accessible from 3-methoxypyridine N-oxide (48), was used as the starting material in a singlet oxygen induced 2,2’ bipyrrole coupling reaction. Although 47 proved unreactive in this coupling reaction, when the N-Boc protected analogue of 47 was used, and the reaction worked up in the dark, the novel methyl 4-aza-5-oxo-6,6-di-(2-pyrrolyl)-2(Z)-hexenoate (57) was obtained in low yield. The physical properties of tambjamine (E) (13) and the tetrapyrrole (15) were investigated to further the understanding of the proposed oxidative DNA cleavage mechanism and to determine the potential of the 4-methoxypyrrolic natural products as photodynamic therapy agents.