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The therapy of the clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is crucial for the human healthcare due to its easy metastasis and recurrence, as well as resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In this work, we propose the synthesis of MoS 2 @red phosphorus (MoS 2 @RP) heterojunction to induce synergistic photodynamic and photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) of ccRCC. The MoS 2 @RP heterojunction exhibits enhanced spectra absorption in the NIR range and produce local heat-increasing under the NIR laser irradiation compared with pure MoS 2 and RP. The high photocatalytic activity of the MoS 2 @RP heterojunction contributes to effective transferring of the photo-excited electrons from the RP to MoS 2 , which promotes the production of various types of radical oxygen species (ROS) to kill the ccRCC cells. After the NIR irradiation, the MoS 2 @RP can effectively induce the apoptosis in the ccRCC cells through localized hyperthermia and the generation of ROS, while exhibiting low cytotoxicity towards normal kidney cells. In comparison to MoS 2 , the MoS 2 @RP heterojunction shows an approximate increase of 22 % in the lethality rate of the ccRCC cells and no significant change in toxicity towards normal cells. Furthermore, the PDT/PTT treatment using the MoS 2 @RP heterojunction effectively eradicates a substantial number of deep-tissue ccRCC cells in vivo without causing significant damage to major organs. This study presents promising effect of the MoS 2 @RP heterojunction-based photo-responsive therapy for effective ccRCC treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Antibacterial materials have been rapidly emerging as a primary component in the mitigation of bacterial pathogens, and green functional materials play a vital role in the antibacterial field. In this study, biocompatible hydroxyapatite nanowires (HANW) was used as a carrier, a coral rod-like nanowires hybrid of MoS 2 and HANW (CR-MoS 2 @HANW) was synthesized via a facile two-step hydrothermal approach. After being characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, the antibacterial activity and environmental compatibility were assessed. It was found that MoS 2 nanosheets were in-situ assembled onto surface of HA nanowires, and the obtained nanohybrid exhibited excellent stability. CR-MoS 2 @HANW endowed a desirable long-term antibacterial activity against both gram-negative E. coli and gram-positive S. aureus. It was sufficient to inhibit the growth of bacteria within 72 h, and nanohybrids effectively promoted the growth of plants. In summary, the combination of MoS 2 and HANW created a novel eco-friendly nanohybrids that could be applied as a promising multi-functional green antisepsis. And the CR-MoS 2 @HANW possessed enormous potential for biomedical applications., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Altered redox homeostasis as a hallmark of cancer cells is exploited by cancer cells for growth and survival. The thioredoxin (Trx), an important regulator in maintaining the intracellular redox homeostasis, is cumulatively recognized as a promising target for the development of anticancer drugs. Herein, we synthesized 72 disulfides and evaluated theirinhibition for Trx and antitumor activity. First, we established an efficient and fast method to screen Trx inhibitors by using the probe NBL-SS that was developed by our group to detect Trx function in living cells. After an initial screening of the Trx inhibitory activity of these compounds, 8 compounds showed significant inhibition activity against Trx. We then evaluated the cytotoxicity of these 8 disulfides, compounds 68 and 69 displayed high cytotoxicity to HeLa cells, but less sensitive to normal cell lines. Next, we performed kinetic studies of both two disulfides, 68 had faster inhibition of Trx than 69. Further studies revealed that 68 led to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and eventually induced apoptosis of Hela cells via inhibiting Trx. The establishment of a method for screening Trx inhibitors and the discovery of 68 with remarkable Trx inhibition provide support for the development of anticancer candidates with Trx inhibition., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Diaryl disulfides and diaryl thiosulfonates were synthesized with the two phenyl rings of all compounds bearing identical halide substituents. Because of structural similarity to the potent antimitotic natural product combretastatin A-4 (CA-4), the compounds were examined for inhibition of tubulin polymerization, and the thiosulfonates were more active than the disulfides. The nine thiosulfonates had IC 50 values ranging from 1.2 to 9.1 µM, as compared with 1.3 µM obtained with CA-4. The compounds thus ranged from equipotent with CA-4 to 7-fold less active. The nine disulfides had IC 50 values ranging from 1.2 to 5.1 µM, as compared with 0.54 µM obtained with CA-4. The compounds thus ranged from less than half as active as CA-4 to over 9-fold less active. The most active members of each group, 2 g and 3c, in the assembly assay were modeled into the colchicine site. Compound 3c had significant hydrophobic interactions with β-tubulin residues CYS 241 and ALA 250, and its thiosulfonate bridge made a hydrogen bond with β-tubulin residue ASN 258. Compound 2 g had hydrophobic interactions with β-tubulin residues ALA 250, CYS 241 and ALA 254, but there was no significant interaction of the disulfide bridge with tubulin., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A bacterial and viral infection causes life threatening diseases owing to the abuse of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistance microbes. Currently, biopolymers have been considered as the most promising materials in the medical field. Herein, the biogenic chitosan-functionalized MoS 2 nanocomposite was prepared by the hydrothermal method with the liquid exfoliation process. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of chitosan-MoS 2 hybrid nanocomposite revealed that MoS 2 nanoparticle was found to be 42 nm with a hexagonal crystal structure. FTIR and Raman spectrum revealed that the nitrogen functionalities in the chitosan interacted with MoS 2 to form the nanocomposite. The XPS spectrum of chitosan-MoS 2 nanocomposite confirms that C, N, O, Mo, and S exist in the nanocomposite. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Differential thermal analysis (DTA) analysis showed that the chitosan-MoS 2 nanocomposite has higher thermal stability up to 600 °C. In the antibacterial application the chitosan-MoS 2 hybrid nanocomposite shows zones of inhibition against S. aureus as 22, 28, and 32 mm, and against E. coli as 26, 30, and 35 mm. In the anticancer analysis, chitosan-MoS 2 hybrid nanocomposites showed a maximum cell inhibition of 65.45% at 100 μg/mL - 1 , resulting in the most significant MCF-7 cell inhibition., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A metal-inorganic composite, comprises of silver-molybdenum disulfide nanosheets (Ag@MoS 2 ) was synthesized at low temperature. The Ag@MoS 2 composite was drop-casted onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for a highly selective dopamine (DA) detection in the presence of interfering compounds such as uric acid (UA) and ascorbic acid (AA). The physicochemical analysis of the nanosheets was carried out with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared Ag@MoS 2 -modified GCE displayed excellent electrocatalytic activity toward DA oxidation, with a 0.2 μM detection limit at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 and an extensive linear detection range from 1 μM to 500 μM (R 2  = 0.9983). The fabricated non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor demonstrated superior selectivity and stability for the detection of DA with the removal of AA and UA interfering compounds., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The prodrug strategy serves well in drug formulation and delivery. Two disulfide-based PEGylated prodrugs were developed and the drug reconversion upon different conditions were studied in detail. The reconversion-induced oversaturation phenomenon was firstly reported here. We found the prodrug can co-assemble with parent drug via π-π stacking into well-defined nanoparticles. The PEG layer of the self-assembled nanoparticles improved the stability of the PEGylated prodrug by reducing the contact with biological enzymes. The nanoparticles also show favorable antitumor efficacy, both in vitro and in vivo., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Novel series of disulfide and sulfone hybrid analogs (1-20) were synthesized and characterized through EI-MS and (1)H NMR and evaluated for β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential. All synthesized analogs except 13 and 15 showed excellent β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential with IC50 value ranging in between 2.20-88.16μM as compared to standard d-saccharic acid 1,4 lactone (48.4±1.25μM). Analogs 19, 16, 4, 1, 17, 6, 10, 3, 18, 2, 11, 14 and 5 showed many fold potent activity against β-glucuronidase inhibitor. Structure activity relationship showed that substitution of electron withdrawing groups at ortho as well as para position on phenyl ring increase potency. Electron withdrawing groups at meta position on phenyl ring showed slightly low potency as compared to ortho and para position. The binding interactions were confirmed through molecular docking studies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This paper reports a facile synthesis of molybdenum disulfide nanosheets/silver nanoparticles (MoS2/Ag) hybrid and its use as an effective matrix in negative ion matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The nanohybrid exerts a strong synergistic effect, leading to high performance detection of small molecule analytes including amino acids, peptides, fatty acids and drugs. The enhancement of laser desorption/ionization (LDI) efficiency is largely attributed to the high surface roughness and large surface area for analyte adsorption, better dispersibility, increased thermal conductivity and enhanced UV energy absorption as compared to pure MoS2. Moreover, both Ag nanoparticles and the edge of the MoS2 layers function as deprotonation sites for proton capture, facilitating the charging process in negative ion mode and promoting formation of negative ions. As a result, the MoS2/Ag nanohybrid proves to be a highly attractive matrix in MALDI-TOF MS, with desired features such as high desorption/ionization efficiency, low fragmentation interference, high salt tolerance, and no sweet-spots for mass signal. These characteristic properties allowed for simultaneous analysis of eight different drugs and quantification of acetylsalicylic acid in the spiked human serum. This work demonstrates for the first time the fabrication and application of a novel MoS2/Ag hybrid, and provides a new platform for use in the rapid and high throughput analysis of small molecules by mass spectrometry., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

An easy and mild method has been developed for the synthesis of mixed glycosyl disulfides/selenenylsulfides from glycosyl halides and diaryl/dialkyl dichalcogenides in the presence of benzyltriethylammonium tetrathiomolybdate [(BnEt3N)2MoS4]. The salient feature of this method is the sulfur transfer from [BnEt3N]2MoS4 to form glycosyl disulfides which with excess tetrathiomolybdate further undergo exchange reaction with other dichalcogenides in a one-pot operation., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Schiff base disulfide ligands (H2L(1-6)) were synthesized from the condensation of cystamine with salicylaldehyde(H2L(1)), 5-chlorosalicylaldehyde(H2L(2)), o-vanillin(H2L(3)), 2-hydroxyacetophenone(H2L(4)), 3-methyl-2-hydroxyacetophenone(H2L(5)), and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde(H2L(6)). H2L(1-6) reacts with the ruthenium precursor complex [RuHCl(CO)(PPh3)3] in benzene giving rise to six new ruthenium(II) complexes of general formula [Ru(CO)L(1-6)]. Characterization of the new complexes was carried out by using elemental and spectral (IR, UV-Vis, NMR ((1)H and (13)C) and Mass) techniques. An octahedral geometry was assigned for all the complexes based on the spectral data obtained. The catalytic efficiency of the new complexes in aldehyde to amide conversion in the presence of NaHCO3, N-alkylation of aniline in the presence of t-BuOK, and transfer hydrogenation of ketones in the presence of iPrOH/KOH reactions were studied. Furthermore, the effect of solvents and catalyst/substrate ratio on the catalytic aldehyde to amide conversion were also discussed., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

alpha-D-Mannopyranosyl units were attached to an aromatic scaffold through disulfide linkages to obtain mono- to trivalent glycosylated ligands for lectin binding studies. Isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC) measurements indicated that binding affinities of these derivatives to Concanavalin A (Con A) were comparable to or slightly higher than that of methyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside (K(a) values in the range of 10(4)M(-1)). The stoichiometries of the lectin-ligand complexes were in agreement with the formal valencies (1-3) of the respective ligands indicating cross-linking in interactions with the di- and trivalent derivatives. Multivalency effects could not, however, be observed with the latter. These ligands were shown to bind to the carbohydrate binding site of Con A using saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR competition experiments.

Dialkyl disulfide-linked naphthoquinone, (NQ-Cn-S)2, and anthraquinone, (AQ-Cn-S)2, derivatives with different spacer alkyl chains (Cn: n=2, 6, 12) were synthesized and these quinone derivatives were self-assembled on a gold electrode. The formation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of these derivatives on a gold electrode was confirmed by infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IR-RAS). Electron transfer between the derivatives and the gold electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry. On the cyclic voltammogram a reversible redox reaction between quinone (Q) and hydroquinone (QH2) was clearly observed under an aqueous condition. The formal potentials for NQ and AQ derivatives were -0.48 and -0.58 V, respectively, that did not depend on the spacer length. The oxidation and reduction peak currents were strongly dependent on the spacer alkyl chain length. The redox behavior of quinone derivatives depended on the pH condition of the buffer solution. The pH dependence was in agreement with a theoretical value of E 1/2 (mV)=E'-59pH for 2H+/2e(-) process in the pH range 3-11. In the range higher than pH 11, the value was estimated with E 1/2 (mV)=E'-30pH , which may correspond to H+/2e(-) process. The tunneling barrier coefficients (beta) for NQ and AQ SAMs were determined to be 0.12 and 0.73 per methylene group (CH2), respectively. Comparison of the structures and the alkyl chain length of quinones derivatives on these electron transfers on the electrode is made.

A facile and efficient methodology has been developed for the synthesis of dithymidine and di-uridine derived disulfides using benzyltriethylammonium tetrathiomolybdate as a sulfur transfer reagent. However, a similar reaction of thymidine derivative with tetraethylammonium tetraselenotungstate as a selenium transfer reagent resulted in the formation of an unexpected cyclic diselenide. The disulfide derivatives of nucleosides have been used as precursors in a tandem disulfide cleavage-Michael addition/ring opening reactions to construct aminoacid and carbocyclic derivatives of nucleosides.

The first step of the reaction catalyzed by the homodimeric FabH from a dissociated fatty acid synthase is acyl transfer from acyl-CoA to an active site cysteine. We report that C1 to C10 alkyl-CoA disulfides irreversibly inhibit Escherichia coli FabH (ecFabH) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis FabH with relative efficiencies that reflect these enzymes' differential acyl-group specificity. Crystallographic and kinetic studies with MeSSCoA show rapid inhibition of one monomer of ecFabH through formation of a methyl disulfide conjugate with this cysteine. Reaction of the second subunit with either MeSSCoA or acetyl-CoA is much slower. In the presence of malonyl-ACP, the acylation rate of the second subunit is restored to that of the native ecFabH. These observations suggest a catalytic model in which a structurally disordered apo-ecFabH dimer orders on binding either the first substrate, acetyl-CoA, or the inhibitor MeSSCoA, and is restored to a disordered state on binding of malonyl-ACP.

Thiols play a central role in maintaining biological homeostasis. Their levels can change dramatically in response to oxidative stress associated with toxic insults, bacterial infection, and disease. Therefore, a reagent that can monitor thiol levels both in vitro and in vivo would be useful for assays and as a biomarker. Such a reagent should (i) be selective for thiols, (ii) be able to penetrate cell walls, and (iii) have a low reduction potential so as not to create oxidative stress in a cell. We have developed such a fluorescent reagent (DSSA) based on a dithiol linker: (i) the use of a dithiol linker makes it selective for thiols; (ii) the use of fluorophores that populate neutral states at physiological pH improves cell wall penetration; and (iii) because of the reagent's low reduction potential (-0.60 V), it will not stress cells oxidatively. For example, 5 microM of reagent is responsive to changes in glutathione levels in the physiologically relevant range of 1 to 10mM, yet this would oxidize less than 1% of cellular glutathione. In Escherichia coli, decreased thiol levels were detected in cells deficient in glutathione synthesis. In zebrafish embryos, the DSSA reagent permitted detection of unusually high thiol levels in the zebrafish chorion.

Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is a 37-residue pancreatic hormone. It is responsible for the formation of islet amyloid in vivo and is very insoluble and aggregation-prone in vitro, particularly at basic pH. The peptide contains a disulfide bridge between residues two and seven and an amidated C terminus. There is no reported expression system for the production of amidated IAPP. The peptide is difficult to synthesize and formation of the disulfide by traditional methods is problematic. We have found that the use of 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) significantly improves disulfide formation and purification of highly aggregation-prone IAPP sequences. The use of these organic solvents increases the solubility of the hydrophobic peptides, avoids the use of aqueous basic solutions, and eliminates the need for continuous stirring during oxidation to form the Cys-2 to Cys-7 disulfide bridge. Elimination of the stirring step and basic solution helps to reduce aggregation and allows for more consistent high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) retention times. Formation of the intramolecular disulfide using DMSO was found to be the most effective method for IAPP oxidation, reducing the reaction time from 24 to 5 h. Aggregated IAPP can be resolubilized by HFIP or DMSO and recovered by HPLC with very good yield.

Electroreduction of the disulfide derivative RSSR (5, R= [bond]C(6)H(4)[bond]CO[bond]C(6)H(4)[bond]CN) on a mercury pool or a carbon gauze electrode in the presence of 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-5-thio-D-xylopyranosyl bromide (1), using a sacrificial zinc anode gave an alpha,beta anomeric mixture of [4-(4-cyanobenzoylphenyl)] 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-1,5-dithio-D-xylopyranoside (6) in 40-70% yield, according to the experimental conditions used (nature of solvent, electrolyte salt, and temperature). High selectivity favouring the alpha anomer of 6 is observed starting from the alpha anomer of 1. Mechanistic aspects are discussed.

Three routes were investigated for the conversion of D-glucose into the title compound. In the first approach, reduction of the 5,6-thiirane ring of 5,6-dideoxy-5, 6-epithio-1,2-O-isopropylidene-alpha-D-glucofuranose (17) as well as that of its 3-O-allyl derivative (13) with lithium aluminium hydride was investigated; 17 afforded the corresponding 6-deoxy derivative besides di-, tri-, and poly-mers, whereas only polymers were formed from 13. In the second approach, the oxirane ring of 3-O-allyl-5,6-anhydro-1,2-O-isopropylidene-beta-L-idofuranose was reduced by sodium borohydride and the resulting 6-deoxy derivative was converted into the 5-thiobenzoate; the corresponding hex-4-enofuranose was formed as a byproduct. In the third approach partial mesylation of methyl 5-thio-alpha-D-glucopyranoside was attempted, but the 6-mesylate 27 could be isolated only in modest yield (28%) together with rearranged 2,5-thioanhydromannofuranoside derivatives. The mechanism of this rearrangement is discussed in detail. The 6-mesylate 27 was converted via the 6-iodo derivative into the title compound.

In an effort to obtain a more potent and specific immunotoxin for cancer therapy, we designed a series of heterobifunctional linkers characterized by a thioimidate group linked to a S-acetyl thiol (4, 5) or substituted aryldithio group (6-10). These ligands were synthesized by a Pinner-type process from the corresponding nitrile derivatives obtained by thiol-disulphide exchange reaction, reaction with substituted benzene-sulphenyl chloride, or other known procedures. To check the reagent of choice for immunoconjugate preparation, we studied thioldisulphide exchange kinetics between the intermediate nitrile derivatives and cysteine. Among the tested aryldithio derivatives (6-10), we selected ethyl 3-(4-carboxamido-phenyldithio)propionthioimidate (CDPT, 9) for further studies. By analyzing the rate of incorporation of the linkers 4, 5, and 9 in a model immunoglobulin G protein, we found similar results with CDPT 9 and ethyl S-acetyl 3-mercaptopropionthioimidate ester hydrochloride (AMPT, 5) because both reagents showed a linear correlation between the number of introduced thiol groups and factors such as time and protein and reagent concentrations. Comparison of the two acetylthio-derivative ligands 4 and 5 showed that AMPT 5 was more stable toward deacetylation than ethyl S-acetyl 2-mercaptopropionthioimidate ester hydrochloride (AMAT, 4). By comparing the kinetic and biological parameters of seven new thioimidate linkers, we found that two of these (CDPT and AMPT) could be superior ligands for protein-protein conjugation. They offer advantages over the commercially available compounds, such as minimal perturbation of the protein structure, controlled reactivity, and good stability.

This paper describes the in vitro evaluation of antibacterial, antifungal and genotoxic activities of a series of 2,2'-dicarboxamidodiphenyldisulfides. All the studied compounds exhibited antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis. Most compounds were also active against Staphylococcus aureus. Several compounds were active against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and, in most cases, also against Candida tropicalis. No effects were observed against Escherichia coli or Aspergillus niger. Antimicrobial activity turned out to be affected by the substituent in the benzene ring and structure-activity relationships were found. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the studied derivatives were compared with those of the corresponding 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-ones and in some cases strong differences were observed. None of the tested compounds contained alerting groups or showed genotoxic properties.

Trypanothione disulfide [N1,N8-bis(glutathionyl)-spermidine], the physiological substrate for the chemotherapeutic target enzyme trypanothione reductase, is difficult to isolate, expensive to buy, and awkward to synthesize. Here we describe the straightforward synthesis of N,N'-bis(benzyloxycarbonyl)-L-cysteinylglycyl-3-dimethylaminopropylam ide disulfide, which is shown to be a good alternative substrate for the trypanothione reductases from Crithidia fasciculata and Trypanosoma cruzi.

Certain disulfide analogues of cystamine were prepared and evaluated for the ability to inhibit gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase (GCS), the rate-limiting enzyme in glutathione synthesis. The compound SAPH-3 disulfide (2a) was found to be the most effective inactivator of GCS reported to date. Studies of structural analogues of 2a indicate that the histamine moiety plays a significant role in enzyme inactivation. Substitution of methyl groups on the carbon atoms adjacent to both sulfur atoms of the disulfide drastically decreases inhibitory action, probably due to a steric repulsion near the sulfur atom at the enzyme active site.

A series of tetraamine disulfides related to benextramine (an alpha-adrenoreceptor and H2-receptor antagonist) in which the distance between the inner and the outer nitrogens were changed from five to nine methylenes has been studied. Both effects of the displacement of the disulfide bridge by two methylenes and those of the progressive removal of two of the four nitrogens on the pharmacological profile have been assessed. Peak potency appeared to be associated with eight methylenes between the inner and the outer nitrogens and to four cationic charges as in the most active analogue 4 which was also investigated to assess its receptor specificity towards histamine H1 and muscarinic M2 and M3 receptors. The finding that the carbon analogue 11 (two methylenes for the disulfide bridge) was devoid of activity is consistent with the hypothesis that histamine H2-receptor inhibition is the result of a covalent bond formation by a way of a disulfide-thiol interchange reaction between the disulfide moiety of tetraamine disulfides and a receptor thiol group. However, the possibility that tetraamine disulfides may not act at the H2-receptor but beyond the receptor cannot be excluded.

A series of omega-(4-aminophenylsulfonamido)alkyl disulfides and omega-(4-aminophenylsulfonamido)alkanethiosulfates was synthesized from the reaction of p-acetamidobenzenesulfanilyl chloride and either the aminoalkyl disulfide dihydrobromide or the aminoalkyl bromide hydrobromide followed by sodium thiosulfate. Several of the compounds showed inhibitory activity against dihydropteroate synthetase isolated from a sulfanilamide-resistant strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae of the same order of activity as that of sulfanilamide. An increase in the hydrophobic nature of the sulfanilamide structure did not increase inhibitory activity against this enzyme.

Synthesis of the disulfides 2,2'-dithiodithiazole, 2,2'-dithiobis(4-methylthiazole), and 5,5'-dithiobis(3-methylisothiazole), which are thiol-specific reagents, is described and the uv-absorption spectra of the disulfides and corresponding thiols and/or thiones are presented. The utility of these and several other reagents for the modification of thiol groups in enzymes has been demonstrated with lactate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase and compared with the frequently applied modification reagents 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) and 2,2'-dithiodipyridine. The 5-membered heterocyclic disulfides permit the spectrophotometric determination of all sulfhydryl groups of malate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase without requiring their prior denaturation. Application of these reagents makes possible the determination of SH groups in the pH range less than or equal to 7.

Based on the antimalarial activity in mice of bis(4-rho-acetamidobenzenesulfonamidophenyl) disulfide, a series of N-heterocyclic alkyl disulfides and thiosulfates was synthesized and screened for antimalarial activity. Several related dithio acid dianions and S- blocked derivatives were also screened to provide an indication of the possible role that thiol anions might play in malaria chemotherapy. Activity was limited by toxicity with these compounds, and none of those tested, with the exception of bis(4-rho-acetamidobenzenesulfonamidophenyl) disulfide, showed curative activity in either a mouse or chick test.

Tetrapeptides of primary sequence Tyr-X-Phe-YNH2, where X is D-Cys or D-Pen (penicillamine) and where Y is D-Pen or L-Pen, were prepared and were cyclized via the side chain sulfurs of residues 2 and 4 to disulfide or dithioether-containing analogs. These peptides are related to previously reported penicillamine-containing pentapeptide enkephalin analogs but lack the central glycine residue of the latter and were designed to assess the effect of decreased ring size on opioid activity. Binding affinities of the tetrapeptides were determined to both mu and delta opioid receptors. Binding affinity and selectivity in the tetrapeptide series were observed to be highly dependent on primary sequence. For example, L-Pen4 analogs displayed low affinity and were nonselective, while the corresponding D-Pen4 diastereomers were of variable affinity and higher selectivity. Among the latter compounds were examples of potent analogs in which selectivity shifted from delta selective to mu selective as the ring size was increased. The relatively high binding affinity and delta receptor selectivity observed with one of the carboxamide terminal disulfide analogs led to the synthesis of the corresponding carboxylic acid terminal, Tyr-D-Cys-Phe-D-PenOH. This analog displayed delta receptor binding selectivity similar to that of the standard delta ligand, [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (DPDPE), and was found to have a 3.5-fold higher binding affinity than DPDPE. All the tetrapeptides were further evaluated in the isolated mouse vas deferens (mvd) assay and all displayed opioid agonist activity. In general, tetrapeptide potencies in the mouse vas deferens correlated well with binding affinities but were somewhat lower. Receptor selectivity in the mvd, assessed by examining the effect of opioid antagonists on the tetrapeptide concentration-effect curves, was similar to that determined in the binding studies.

The title compounds were prepared in the attempt to provide methylthio and bis(methylthio) analogues of the radioprotective pyridinium- and quinolinium-2-dithioacetic acid derivatives in which the methylthio function is attached to an amino group through an aliphatic chain. The methyl 3-amino-2-phenyldithiopropenoates were obtained by the reaction of amines with 4-phenyl-3-methylthio-1,2-dithiolium iodide, and the 1,1-bis(methylthio)-3-amino-2-phenyl-1-propenes were obtained by methylation and reduction of the dithiopropenoates. The methyl dithiopropenoates with aliphatic substituents on the nitrogen gave only fair or poor radiation protection in mice, and one example of the reduced bis(methylthio) derivatives tested was inactive. The precursor 1,2-dithiole-3-thione and its methiodide, predicted to be radiation protective, were found inactive in this test.