2-Furoic acid (Furan-2-carboxylic acid)

Trace amounts of furan-2-carboxylic acids determine the quality of solid agar plates for bacterial culture

Background: Many investigators have recognised that a significant proportion of environmental bacteria exist in a viable but non-culturable state on agar plates, and some researchers have also noticed that some of such bacteria clearly recover their growth on matrices other than agar. However, the reason why agar is unsuitable for the growth of some bacteria has not been addressed. Methodology/principal findings: According to the guide of a bioassay for swarming inhibition, we identified 5-hydroxymethylfuran-2-carboxylic acid (5-HMFA) and furan-2-carboxylic acid (FA) as factors that inhibit bacterial swarming and likely inhibit extracellular polysaccharide production on agar. The furan-2-carboxylic acids 5-HMFA and FA effectively inhibited the swarming and swimming of several environmental bacteria at concentrations of 1.8 and 2.3 ?g L(-1) (13 and 21 nmol L(-1)), respectively, which are equivalent to the concentrations of these compounds in 0.3% agar. On Luria-Bertani (LB) plates containing 1.0% agar that had been previously washed with MeOH, a mixture of 5-HMFA and FA in amounts equivalent to their original concentrations in the unwashed agar repressed the swarming of Escherichia coli K12 strain W3110, a representative swarming bacterium. Conclusions/significance: Agar that contains trace amounts of 5-HMFA and FA inhibits the proliferation of some slow-growing or difficult-to-culture bacteria on the plates, but it is useful for single colony isolation due to the ease of identification of swarmable bacteria as the non-swarmed colonies.

Structural and biochemical study on the inhibitory activity of derivatives of 5-nitro-furan-2-carboxylic acid for RNase H function of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase

Rapid emergence of drug-resistant variants is one of the most serious problems in chemotherapy for HIV-1 infectious diseases. Inhibitors acting on a target not addressed by approved drugs are of great importance to suppress drug-resistant viruses. HIV-1 reverse transcriptase has two enzymatic functions, DNA polymerase and RNase H activities. The RNase H activity is an attractive target for a new class of antiviral drugs. On the basis of the hit chemicals found in our previous screening with 20,000 small molecular-weight compounds, we synthesized derivatives of 5-nitro-furan-2-carboxylic acid. Inhibition of RNase H enzymatic activity was measured in a biochemical assay with real-time monitoring of florescence emission from the digested RNA substrate. Several derivatives showed higher inhibitory activities that those of the hit chemicals. Modulation of the 5-nitro-furan-2-carboxylic moiety resulted in a drastic decrease in inhibitory potency. In contrast, many derivatives with modulation of other parts retained inhibitory activities to varying degrees. These findings suggest the binding mode of active derivatives, in which three oxygen atoms aligned in a straight form at the nitro-furan moiety are coordinated to two divalent metal ions located at RNase H reaction site. Hence, the nitro-furan-carboxylic moiety is one of the critical scaffolds for RNase H inhibition. Of note, the RNase H inhibitory potency of a derivative was improved by 18-fold compared with that of the original hit compound, and no significant cytotoxicity was observed for most of the derivatives showing inhibitory activity. Since there is still much room for modification of the compounds at the part opposite the nitro-furan moiety, further chemical conversion will lead to improvement of compound potency and specificity.

Concise Synthesis of Both Enantiomers of Pilocarpine

Furan-2-carboxylic acid was used as a starting material for the synthesis of dehydro-homopilopic acid. Esterification, hydrogenation and enzymatic hydrolysis followed by the reduction of Weinreb amides and a single-step attachment of a 1-methyl-imidazole residue allowed for the concise synthesis of both enantiomers of pilocarpine.

5-Furan-2yl[1,3,4]oxadiazole-2-thiol, 5-furan-2yl-4H [1,2,4] triazole-3-thiol and their thiol-thione tautomerism

5-Furan-2-yl[1,3,4]oxadiazole-2-thiol (Ia) and 5-furan-2-yl-4H-[1,2,4]-triazole-3-thiol (Ib) were synthesized from furan-2-carboxylic acid hydrazide. Mannich bases and methyl derivatives were then prepared. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by elemental analyses, IR and (1)H-NMR spectra. Their thiol-thione tautomeric equilibrium is described.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of methyl anthranilate, hydroxymethylfurfural and related compounds in honey

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for determining 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (hydroxymethylfurfural), 2-furaldehyde (furfural), furan-2-carboxylic acid (2-furoic acid), furan-3-carboxylic acid (3-furoic acid), furan-3-carboxaldehyde (3-furaldehyde) and 2-aminobenzoic acid methyl ester (methyl anthranilate) in honey and honeydew samples is described. To prevent matrix interference and to isolate the compounds, a clean-up step which implies a solid-phase extraction on polymeric cartridges and an elution with 0.5 ml methanol is recommended. The compounds are separated on a reversed-phase column with a gradient of (A) 1% aqueous acetic acid-acetonitrile (97:3, v/v) and (B) acetonitrile-water (50:50, v/v), with UV detection at 250 nm. The method is applied to the analysis of samples from different botanical origin.