PassaLab

Prof. Daniele Passarella’s Research Group
Department of Chemistry
University of Milan

Self-Assembled
Nanoparticles

Diversity-Oriented
Synthesis

Synthesis
of API

Natural Products
as Leads

TubInTrain

European Joint Doctorate on chemistry and biology of neurodegeneration, Horizon 2020 – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks

It is a plesure for us to introduce you the new European Joint Doctorate called TubInTrain. You can find more details on this ufficial Link.

Follow the project on social

Quantitative Live Cell Imaging of a Tauopathy model enables the Identification of a Polypharmacological Drug Candidate that Restores Physiological Microtubule Interaction

Nature Communications, 2024
A live-cell imaging of a tauopathy model enables screening of compounds that modulate taumicrotubule interaction and allows identification of a promising polypharmacological drug candidate that simultaneously inhibits tau aggregation and reduces tau phosphorylation. Find out more at the link.

A Green Approach to Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitutions of Nicotinic Esters in Cyrene

European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2024
Cyrene has been used as an eco-friendly alternative to environmentally harmful polar aprotic solvents in SNAr reactions. This innovative protocol enabled the facile synthesis of a wide library of novel nicotinic esters, valuable precursors of bioactive compounds. This methodology could also be extended to scale-up processes, microwave-assisted synthesis, and one-pot telescoping reactions, thus enhancing its applicability in various eco-friendly synthetic contexts. Find out more at the link.

Sustainable Synthesis of 1,2,3-Triazoles using Cyrene as a Biodegradable Solvent in Click Chemistry

ChemSusChem, 2025
The first successful synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles using Cyrene as a biodegradable and non-toxic solvent in click chemistry has been developed. Find out more here.


Synthesis of α-fluorocinnamate derivatives as novel cathepsin S inhibitors with in vitro antiproliferative activity against pancreatic cancer cells

Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2025
We have designed and synthesized three new derivatives basing on an isosteric replacement (H–F) at the level of cinnamate moiety. These derivatives emerged as potent covalent inhibitors of CatS (1.8–2.6 µM) with 2F showing also weak inhibition activity against CatL (20 %) and CatB (29 %). In vitro assays of 2F against pancreatic cancer cell lines BXPC3 and CAPAN1 revealed significant antiproliferative activity, with IC50 = 5.79 µM and 20.75 µM, respectively.. To find out more details follow the page




Biochemical Modulation of D-Asp Metabolism in Brain

Discovery of new small molecules inhibitors of hDASPO for the treatment of disorders connected to deficiency of D-Asp levels in brain. hDASPO inhibitors increases D-Asp in neuronal cells and thereby activates NMDA receptor function.

hDASPO project covers several multidisciplinary aspects, such as structural biology, synthetic organic chemistry and pharmacology, in collaboration with prof. Marco Nardini (Unimi) and Loredano Pollegioni (Uninsubria).


Nicotinic Acid Derivatives As Novel Noncompetitive α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase Inhibitors for Type 2 Diabetes Treatment

ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2024
A library of novel nicotinic acid derivatives, focusing on the modification of position 6 of the pyridine ring with (thio)ether functionalities, was mostly produced through an innovative green synthetic approach (Cyrene-based) and evaluated for their α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Find out more under the Link

First Total Synthesis of Caerulomycin K: a Case Study on Selective, Multiple C–H Functionalizations of Pyridines

RSC Advances, 2024
Caerulomycins, natural alkaloids with antimicrobial properties, have been previously synthesized starting with highly pre-functionalized building blocks or requiring many functional group manipulations. In this work, we report the first total synthesis of caerulomycin K, a diversely trifunctionalized pyridine readily assembled in three steps exploiting the recent advancements in the C–H activation of N-heterocycles. Find out more under the Link


Metal-Free, Selective Ortho-Deuteration of N-Heterocyclic Oxides

Adv. Synth. Cat., 2025
In this work, we present a metal-free, selective ortho-deuteration of N-heterocycles starting from their N-oxides, proceeding at room temperature in just 5 minutes. More about it at this link

Design, synthesis and in vitro validation of bivalent binders of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: Obeticholic, betulinic and glycyrrhetinic acids as building blocks

Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2025
Bivalent compounds have been designed to simultaneously bind both pockets of the Spike protein, offering significant advantages over single molecules or the combination of the two natural products. In vitro cell assays using pseudotyped recombinant lentiviral particles with selected SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins demonstrated that 1 and 2 exhibit enhanced activity in reducing viral entry into target cells compared to individual natural products. Check it out at this link


Notice Board

Publications of the research group

Design, synthesis and in vitro validation of bivalent binders of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: Obeticholic, betulinic and glycyrrhetinic acids as building blocks

Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 2025, DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2025.118124

Martina Pedrini †, Luca Pozzi †, Francesca Sacchi, Andrea Citarella*, Valerio Fasano, Pierfausto Seneci, Stefano Pieraccini, Lorenzo Ruberto, Helena Perez Peña, Alfredo Garzino-Demo, Adriana Vitiello, Leonardo Sernicola, Alessandra Borsetti, Arianna Calistri, Cristina Parolin and Daniele Passarella*

Save the date!

Upcoming webinars, seminars, conferences etc.

  • The XLVIII edition of the “Attilio Corbella” International Summer School on Organic Synthesis (ISOS 2024) will take place in Gargnano (BS, Italy) on June 16-20, 2024.

https://corbellasummerschool.unimi.it/

  • The XIV edition of the Italo-Spanish Symposium on Organic Chemistry (SISOC 2024) will take place in Turin on February 25-27, 2024.

https://www.sisoc2024.unito.it/

Browse the News

challenging papers, breaking news, images and videos

The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals, Hugo Zeberg & Svante Pääbo, Nature, Nov 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2818-3
Anthony Fauci and Alberto Mantovani Webinar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As4E0fbqga0
Carlo Rovelli: Seminar about his new book “Helgoland”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFGM5gI1fobel
SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in development Nature paper
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2798-3
COVID-19: Drug Targets and Potential TreatmentsJournal of Medicinal Chemistry – Paper
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00606
COVID research updates
Nature wades through the literature on the new coronavirus — and summarizes key papers as they appear
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w
Coronavirus: Research, Commentary, and News
The Science journals are striving to provide the best and most timely research, analysis, and news coverage of COVID-19 https://www.sciencemag.org/collections/coronavirus
Food an Drug Administration
https://www.fda.gov/drugs
Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco – Vaccini COVID-19
https://www.aifa.gov.it/vaccini-covid-19

Professor Daniele Passarella

Full Professor of Organic Chemistry
University of Milan – Department of Chemistry