A Potent and Selective Janus Kinase Inhibitor with a Chiral 3D-Shaped Triquinazine Ring System from Chemical Space.

The generated databases (GDBs) enumerate billions of possible molecules following simple rules of chemical stability and synthetic feasibility. Exploring the GDBs shows that many chiral, 3D-shaped ring systems, often containing quaternary centers, have never been exploited for drug design. Shown herein is that such ring systems can be useful for medicinal chemistry by using the example of the enantioselective synthesis of triquinazine, a novel chiral piperazine analogue derived from angular triquinane. It is used to design a nanomolar and selective inhibitor of Janus Kinase 1 and is related to the marketed drug Tofacitinib, which is useful for treating autoimmune diseases.

The Generated Databases (GDBs) as a Source of 3D-shaped Building Blocks for Use in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery.

Drug discovery is in constant need of new molecules to develop drugs addressing unmet medical needs. To assess the chemical space available for drug design, our group investigates the generated databases (GDBs) listing all possible organic molecules up to a defined size, the largest of which is GDB-17 featuring 166.4 billion molecules up to 17 non-hydrogen atoms. While known drugs and bioactive compounds are mostly aromatic and planar, the GDBs contain a plethora of non-aromatic 3D-shaped molecules, which are very useful for drug discovery since they generally have more desirable absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) properties. Here we review GDB enumeration methods and the selection and synthesis of GDB molecules as modulators of ion channels. We summarize the constitution of GDB subsets focusing on fragments (FDB17), medicinal chemistry (GDBMedChem) and ChEMBL-like molecules (GDBChEMBL), and the ring system database GDB4c as a rich source of novel 3D-shaped chiral molecules containing quaternary centers, such as the recently reported trinorbornane.