Structure optimization of positive allosteric modulators of GABAB receptors led to the unexpected discovery of antagonists/potential negative allosteric modulators.

Positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of GABAB receptor represent an interesting alternative to receptor agonists such as baclofen, as they act on the receptor in a more physiological way and thus are devoid of the side effects typically exerted by the agonists. Based on our interest in the identification of new GABAB receptor PAMs, we followed a merging approach to design new chemotypes starting from selected active compounds, such as GS39783, rac-BHFF, and BHF177, and we ended up with the synthesis of four different classes of compounds. The new compounds were tested alone or in the presence of 10 µM GABA using [35S]GTPγS binding assay to assess their functionality at the receptor. Unexpectedly, a number of them significantly inhibited GABA-stimulated GTPγS binding thus revealing a functional switch with respect to the prototype molecules. Further studies on selected compounds will clarify if they act as negative modulators of the receptor or, instead, as antagonists at the orthosteric binding site.

Agonists of the γ-aminobutyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor derived from ß-hydroxy and ß-amino difluoromethyl ketones.

ß-Hydroxy difluoromethyl ketones represent the newest class of agonists of the GABA-B receptor, and they are structurally distinct from all other known agonists at this receptor because they do not display the carboxylic acid or amino group of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In this report, the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of additional analogues of ß-hydroxy difluoromethyl ketones characterized the critical nature of the substituted aromatic group on the lead compound. The importance of these new data is interpreted by docking studies using the X-ray structure of the GABA-B receptor. Moreover, we also report that the synthesis and biological evaluation of ß-amino difluoromethyl ketones provided the most potent compound across these two series.

GABA(B)-agonistic activity of certain baclofen homologues.

Baclofen (1) is a potent and selective agonist for bicuculline-insensitive GABA(B) receptors and is used clinically as an antispastic and muscle relaxant agent. In the search for new bioactive chemical entities that bind specifically to GABA(B) receptors, we report here the synthesis of certain baclofen homologues, namely (R,S)-5-amino-3-arylpentanoic acid hydrochlorides (R,S)-1a-h as well as (R,S)-5-amino-3-methylpentanoic acid [(RS)-1i] to be evaluated as GABA(B)R agonists. Compound 1a is an agonist to GABA(B) receptors with an EC50 value of 46 µM on tsA201 cells transfected with GABA(B1b)/GABA(B2)/Gqz5, being the most active congener among all the synthesized compounds.

Digitization of multistep organic synthesis in reactionware for on-demand pharmaceuticals.

Chemical manufacturing is often done at large facilities that require a sizable capital investment and then produce key compounds for a finite period. We present an approach to the manufacturing of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals in a self-contained plastic reactionware device. The device was designed and constructed by using a chemical to computer-automated design (ChemCAD) approach that enables the translation of traditional bench-scale synthesis into a platform-independent digital code. This in turn guides production of a three-dimensional printed device that encloses the entire synthetic route internally via simple operations. We demonstrate the approach for the γ-aminobutyric acid receptor agonist, (±)-baclofen, establishing a concept that paves the way for the local manufacture of drugs outside of specialist facilities.