SYNTHESIS OF PIPERINE ANALOGS AND A PROPOSAL FOR ENCAPSULATION FOR PROTOTYPES AS ANTITUMOR

• Grant number: 22/14858-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: June 18, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Tatiana Santana Ribeiro
• Grantee: Julio César Meira Junior
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Araras , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The search for bioactive compounds from natural products (NPs) can prospect different forms of treatment for many diseases. In this context, the substances from food groups are also interesting in drug discovery. Piperine is an amide alkaloid extracted from black pepper with biological activity confirmed in literature, such as leishmanicidal, trypanocidal, antimicrobial, and antitumor. Piperine is a bioactive compound present in fruits, the renewable part of the plant. Brazil is the largest pepper producer in the world. Cancer is considered a public health problem, and one of the main forms of treatment is chemotherapy. The controlled release is among the studies to improve, target, and alleviate the side effects of these antineoplastics, thus studies of biomaterials from agricultural residues are promising. This scientific project proposes to extract piperine from black pepper, synthesize some analogous amides, encapsulate it with nanofibers composed of a biomaterial (formulated by zein and cellulose nanofibril), and make the characterizations for future releases studies controlled as chemotherapeutic prototypes.