Molecular Diversity of Lupane Hybrids in Drug Design and Materials Science

The need for new, more effective drugs to treat cancer, infectious diseases, various parasitic infestations, and metabolic disorders requires innovative approaches to the design of promising molecules. One of these areas is the creation of hybrid structures. Lupane triterpenoids are of significant interest for such research due to their high abundance in natural sources and their renewable nature, their molecular architecture, presence of several easily modifiable functional groups, enantiomeric purity, broad spectrum of biological activity, and low toxicity. Active research into the biological properties of new pentacyclic triterpenoid derivatives, not only of the lupane series but also of the oleonane and ursane series, is evidenced by the large number of reviews and experimental studies devoted to this topic. Our interest in the modification of lupanoids stems not only from the search for biologically active compounds but also from the development of functional materials. However, the materials science aspects of lupanoid applications are virtually unknown in literature. We have tried to fill this gap and examined the possibility of using betulin derivatives to create advanced materials. The high lipophilicity and nanoscale molecular structure of these compounds make them highly promising as chiral dopants in liquid crystal compositions and organogel components.