Our research is mainly focusing on the modification of selected groups of alkaloids and study their structure–activity relationships.

Alkaloids are an important class of naturally occurring organic compounds. Many of them have been widely used as a pharmaceutical lead scaffold for constructing various biologically active compounds. As part of our research, several new indole, purine, and pyridine derivatives were obtained. These include, among others, sulfur and selenium nicotine derivatives, aminocaffeine derivatives and gramine-uracil conjugates. Moreover, as we have show in our previous study, one of the gramine derivatives obtained by us turned out to be highly selective for liver cancer cells (HepG2), making it a very promising antiproliferative agent treatment of liver cancer.

Antioxidant compounds play an important role as a health protecting factor by reducing the risk of chronic diseases induced by ROS, including cancer and heart disease. Therefore, the caffeine and gramine molecules remain in the focus of our interest for further modification in the hope of increasing their antioxidant and cytoprotective properties. The antioxidant and cytoprotective properties of the new derivatives are analyzed using standard chemical tests and an in vitro cell system using human erythrocytes as model cells in the study of the biological activity of the compounds. Research on human erythrocytes is conducted in cooperation with the Faculty of Biology of the Adam Mickiewicz University.

1. B. Jasiewicz, K. Malczewska-Jaskóła, I. Kowalczyk, B. Warżajtis, U. Rychlewska, Chalcogen analogues of nicotine lactam studied by NMR, FTIR, DFT and X-ray methods, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 128 (2014) 773–780

2. B. Jasiewicz, L. Mrówczyńska, K. Malczewska-Jaskóła, Synthesis and heamolytic activity of novel salts made of nicotine alkaloids and bile acids, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 24 (2014) 1104-1107

3. R. Bregier-Jarzębowska, K. Malczewska-Jaskóła, W. Jankowski, B. Jasiewicz, A. Gąsowska, M. Hoffmann, R. Jastrząb, Experimental and quantum-chemical studies of anabasine complexes with copper(II) and zinc(II) ions, Polyhedron 85 (2015) 841-848

4. K. Malczewska-Jaskóła, W. Jankowski, B. Warżajtis, B. Jasiewicz, M. Hoffmann, U. Rychlewska Chalcogenated (S)-(-)-nicotine derivatives as chiral linkers for 1D coordination polymers, Polyhedron 100 (2015) 404–411

5. K. Malczewska-Jaskóła, B. Jasiewicz, L. Mrówczyńska, Nicotine alkaloids as antioxidant and potential protective agents against in vitro oxidative haemolysis, Chem.-Biol. Interactions 243 (2016) 62-71

6. B. Jasiewicz, A. Sierakowska, N. Wandyszewska, B. Warżajtis, U. Rychlewska, R. Wawrzyniak, L. Mrówczyńska, Antioxidant properties of thio-caffeine derivatives: Identification of the newly synthesized 8-[(pyrrolidin-1-ylcarbonothioyl)sulfanyl]caffeine as antioxidant and highly potent cytoprotective agent Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 26 (2016) 3994–3998

7. Lipke, M. Makarska-Bialokoz, A. Sierakowska, B. Jasiewicz, Non-covalent interactions between thio-caffeine derivatives and water-soluble porphyrin In etanol-water environment, Spectrochimica Acta A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 192 (2018) 304-311

8. Jasiewicz, A. Sierakowska, W. Jankowski, M. Hoffmann, W. Piorońska, A. Górnicka, A. Bielawska, K. Bielawski, L. Mrówczyńska, Antioxidant and cytotoxic activity of new di- and polyamine caffeine analogues, Free Radical Research 52 (2018) 724-736

9. R. Wawrzyniak, W. Wasiak, B. Jasiewicz, A. Ludwiczuk, A. Bączkiewicz, K. Buczkowska, High correlation of chemical composition with genotype in cryptic species of the liverwort Aneura pinguis, Phytochemistry 152 (2018) 134 -147                      

10. R. Wawrzyniak, B. Jasiewicz, Straightforward and rapid determination of acrylamide in coffee beans by means of HS-SPME/GC-MS, Food Chemistry 301 (2019) 125264