Congratulations Guille for the first of many scientific articles!

Synthesis of New Thiourea-Metal Complexes with Promising Anticancer Properties, Canudo-Barreras, G.; Ortego, L.; Izaga, A.; Marzo, I.; Herrera, R. P.; Gimeno, M. C. Molecules 2021, 26(22), 6891. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26226891.

Abstract. In this work, two thiourea ligands bearing a phosphine group in one arm and in the other a phenyl group (T2) or 3,5-di-CF3 substituted phenyl ring (T1) have been prepared and their coordination to Au and Ag has been studied. A different behavior is observed for gold complexes, a linear geometry with coordination only to the phosphorus atom or an equilibrium between the linear and three-coordinated species is present, whereas for silver complexes the coordination of the ligand as P^S chelate is found. The thiourea ligands and their complexes were explored against different cancer cell lines (HeLa, A549, and Jurkat). The thiourea ligands do not exhibit relevant cytotoxicity in the tested cell lines and the coordination of a metal triggers excellent cytotoxic values in all cases. In general, data showed that gold complexes are more cytotoxic than the silver compounds with T1, in particular the complexes [AuT1(PPh3)]OTf, the bis(thiourea) [Au(T1)2]OTf and the gold-thiolate species [Au(SR)T1]. In contrast, with T2 better results are obtained with silver species [AgT1(PPh3)]OTf and the [Ag(T1)2]OTf. The role played by the ancillary ligand bound to the metal is important since it strongly affects the cytotoxic activity, being the bis(thiourea) complex the most active species. This study demonstrates that metal complexes derived from thiourea can be biologically active and these compounds are promising leads for further development as potential anticancer agents. 

Keywordsbiological properties; cancer; cytotoxicity; gold; metal complexes; silver; thiourea

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Sandra and Juan Carlos, excellent students

Sandra and Juan Carlos received their awards for best academic record, last Monday during the San Alberto Magno ceremony, at the Faculty of Sciences. Well done!! Congratulations!!

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Awakening scientific vocations in children

CSIC organices this week an interesting event dedicated to children from schools of Aragon and surprise them with Science (“Semana de la Ciencia”). Sandra, Christian, Guillermo and Fanny from HOCA lab, have been awakening scientific vocations. Maybe some of them will incorporated to our Institute, the ISQCH, in the near future 😉

Sandra and Christian
Fanny and Guillermo
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Sandra makes HOCA is present in the IV NanoOncology Workshop

Last Tuesday, Sandra Ardevines, PhD student in our group, gave her talk about the “Synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives and the study of their biological properties” during the first session of the IV NanoOncology Workshop (October, 19-20th) celebrated in Zaragoza.
Well done!!

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Tschüss Devan!

Today we said goodbye to Devan, a student from the TUM who got a DAAD internship and joined the HOCA lab for 6 weeks working very hard.

We hope you learnt with us and you had enjoyed.

Good luck and come back to visit us soon!  Thank you 😉

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Bachelor and Master Thesis defended successfully!

Congratulations guys!

Bachelor Theses:

Miryam Garcés Marín. “Searching for more sustainable and effective methods for the synthesis of chiral chromenes of biological importance” Supervisors: Dr. Eugenia Marqués-López and Dr. Raquel P. Herrera.

Juan Carlos Pérez Sánchez. “Synthesis and study of new metal-organocatalysts for dual catalysis” Supervisors: Dr. Raquel P. Herrera and Prof. M. Concepción Gimeno.

Master Theses:

Sandra Ardevines Asín. “Organocatalytic reactions for the synthesis of intermediates of biological interest” Supervisors: Dr. Eugenia Marqués-López and Dr. Raquel P. Herrera.

Christian Ascaso Alegre. “Chemoenzymatic cascades for the generation of new C-C bonds” Supervisors: Dr. Juan Mangas-Sánchez and Dr. Raquel P. Herrera.

Guillermo Canudo Barreras. “Synthesis of heterocycles through gold catalysis” Supervisors: Dr. Raquel P. Herrera and Prof. M. Concepción Gimeno.

Alberto Eizaguerri Serrano. “Application of organo- and bio- catalytic strategies for the preparation of products of industrial interest” Supervisors: Dr. Juan Mangas-Sánchez and Dr. Raquel P. Herrera.

Inés Sebastián Molia. “Synthesis of gold(I) and gold(III) models of metalloenzymes: Catalytic and therapeutic properties” Supervisors: Dr. Juan Mangas Sánchez and Prof. M. Concepción Gimeno.

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New paper published. Congratullations!!

Single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation and catalytic properties of new organically template perhalidometallates, Rayes, A.; Zárate-Roldán, S.; Ara, I.; Moncer, M.; Dege, N.; Gimeno, M. C.; Ayed, B.; Herrera, R. P. Catalysts 2021, 11, 758. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11070758.

Abstract. Two new organic–inorganic salts of perhalidometallates with protonated organic amine cations have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. (CHBMAH2)ZnBr4·3/2H21 and (CHBMAH2)ZnCl44 [(CHBMAH2)2+: 1,3-cyclohexanebis(methylammonium)] were obtained in single-crystal form. The crystal packing in all of the obtained compounds is governed by the formation of various non-covalent intermolecular forces between tetrahalidometallate anions and organic cations, assisted by water molecules in the hydrates. Hirshfeld surface analysis denotes that the most important contributions to the crystal packing are X···H/H···X (X: Cl, Br, I) and H···H interactions. Interestingly, the compound 1,3-cyclohexanebis(methylammonium)tetrachloridozincate (II) dihydrate, (CHBMAH2)ZnCl4·2H22, undergoes thermally-triggered single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) transformation upon dehydration to produce a supramolecular solid compound, 1,3-cyclohexanebis(methylammonium) tetrachloridozincate (II), (CHBMAH2)ZnCl44. The SCSC transformation causes changes in the lattice parameters and a structural rearrangement. Furthermore, the catalytic properties of (CHBMAH2)ZnCl4·2H22 and (CHBMAH2)CdI4·2H23 have been explored in the acetalization process using various uncommon alcohols, beyond methanol or ethanol, for the first time in the literature, with outstanding results, and opening the door to the formation of alternative acetals.

Keywords: perhalidometallates; X-ray crystal structure; thermal analysis; Hirshfeld surface analysis; catalysis; acetalization

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Propargylamines paper, just published!

Effort has reward… congrats!! 😉

Unconventional Gold-Catalyzed One-Pot/Multicomponent Synthesis of Propargylamines Starting from Benzyl Alcohols, Zárate-Roldán, S.; Gimeno, M. C.; Herrera, R. P. Catalysts 2021, 11, 513. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11040513.

Abstract. A formal homogeneous gold-catalyzed A3-coupling, starting from benzyl alcohols, is reported for the straightforward synthesis of propargylamines. This is the first process where these highly valuable compounds have been synthesized, starting from the corresponding alcohols in a one-pot oxidation procedure using MnO2, followed by a HAuCl4·3H2O catalyzed multicomponent reaction. The final products are obtained with very good yields in short reaction times, which is of fundamental interest for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. The usefulness and efficiency of our methodology is successfully compared against the same reaction starting from aldehydes.

Keywords. benzyl alcohols; gold; multicomponent; one-pot; propargylamine

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Happy birthday Dr. Herrera!!!

Kisses from all current and former HOCA’s members and Gimeno’s group!!

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Stepping strong!!

Our young Sandra Ardevines has received the award “Casañal Poza” for the best academic record of the Degree in Chemistry 2019-20.

Congratulations!!!!

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