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Twelve new compounds, aspergorakhins A–L (1–12) coupled with one known xanthone leptosphaerin D (13), were isolated from the extract of soil-derived fungus Aspergillus gorakhpurensis F07ZB1707. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis including UV, IR, NMR, and HRESIMS. The absolute configurations of 5 and 8–11 were identified using ECD and OR calculations. All compounds were tested by enzyme inhibitory activity assay in vitro. Aspergorakhin A (1) showed selective activities against PTP1B and SHP1 over TCPTP with IC50 values 0.57, 1.19, and 22.97 μM, respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited modest cytotoxicity against tumor cell lines A549, HeLa, Bel-7402, and SMMC-7721 with IC50 values in the range of 6.75–83.4 μM.

Twelve new compounds, aspergorakhins A-L (1-12) coupled with one known xanthone leptosphaerin D (13), were isolated from the extract of soil-derived fungus

We present a facile route for the synthesis of water-soluble Cu–Cd–Zn–S/ZnS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) by simple pH regulation. The PL spectra of Cu–Cd–Zn–S/ZnS core/shell quantum dots can cover the whole visible light region in the case of only two ratios of Cu/Cd/Zn. The emission wavelength of Cu–Cd–Zn–S/ZnS QDs can be conveniently tuned from 474 to 515 and 548 to 629 nm by adjusting the pH value when the ratios of Cu/Cd/Zn are fixed at 1 : 5 : 80 and 1 : 5 : 10, respectively. It is worth noting that under the condition of a constant Cu/Cd/Zn ratio, the UV-vis absorption spectra do not change with the fluorescence spectra, indicating that the band gap of QDs remains unchanged during the change of pH value. The photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of the as-prepared QDs with yellow emission is up to 76%. The QDs also show excellent chemical stability after the deposition of the ZnS shell. Luminescent and flexible films are fabricated by combining Cu–Cd–Zn–S QDs with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The QD/PVA flexible hybrid films are successfully applied on top of a conventional blue InGaN chip for remote-type warm-white LEDs. As-fabricated warm-white LEDs exhibit a higher color rendering index (CRI) of about 89.2 and a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 4308 K.

A combination of virtual screening and biological testing was used to identify novel cathepsin K (Cat K) inhibitors. A ligand-based pharmacophore model with five features was constructed and used for the virtual screening, which was followed by structure-based docking. Compounds were selected for biological testing based on fit values in the pharmacophore matching, structural diversity, binding pocket location and docking score in the screening. Four (compounds 3, 4, 5 and 21) out of twenty-two initial in silico hit compounds showed promising Cat K inhibition with IC50 values of 19.21, 24.83, 21.43 and 17.73 μM, respectively. Three compounds also showed anti-proliferative activity against one or more cancer cell lines with micromolar IC50 values. Compound 21 was the most promising hit with IC50 values of 28.25, 16.35 and 5.05 μM against HCT116, MCF7 and 143B cancer cell lines, respectively. This pioneering work has identified novel Cat K inhibitors using virtual screening in combination with pharmacophore modeling and docking approaches. Compound 21 could be used as a scaffold for the development of novel Cat K inhibitors with anti-proliferative activities.