Vibrational circular dichroism studies of exceptionally strong chirality inducers in liquid crystals.

7,7'-Disubstituted 2,2'-methylenedioxy-1,1'-binaphthyls are highly efficient chirality inducers in nematic liquid crystals. The absolute configuration of these compounds is, however, hard to determine as they only crystallize as racemic mixtures. In this work a Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD) study is reported that provides an unambiguous determination of the absolute configuration of these compounds. An in-depth General Coupled Oscillator (GCO) analysis of the source of the VCD signal reveals that the unusual structure of these binaphthyl compounds inherently leads to strong and robust VCD bands. Combined with linear transit calculations, our VCD studies allow for the determination of key structural parameters.

Large-Scale Assessment of Binding Free Energy Calculations in Active Drug Discovery Projects.

Accurate ranking of compounds with regards to their binding affinity to a protein using computational methods is of great interest to pharmaceutical research. Physics-based free energy calculations are regarded as the most rigorous way to estimate binding affinity. In recent years, many retrospective studies carried out both in academia and industry have demonstrated its potential. Here, we present the results of large-scale prospective application of the FEP+ method in active drug discovery projects in an industry setting at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. We compare these prospective data to results obtained on a new diverse, public benchmark of eight pharmaceutically relevant targets. Our results offer insights into the challenges faced when using free energy calculations in real-life drug discovery projects and identify limitations that could be tackled by future method development. The new public data set we provide to the community can support further method development and comparative benchmarking of free energy calculations.

Novel reversible methionine aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP-2) inhibitors based on purine and related bicyclic templates.

The natural product fumagillin 1 and derivatives like TNP-470 2 or beloranib 3 bind to methionine aminopeptidase 2 (MetAP-2) irreversibly. This enzyme is critical for protein maturation and plays a key role in angiogenesis. In this paper we describe the synthesis, MetAP-2 binding affinity and structural analysis of reversible MetAP-2 inhibitors. Optimization of enzymatic activity of screening hit 10 (IC50: 1µM) led to the most potent compound 27 (IC50: 0.038µM), with a concomitant improvement in LLE from 2.1 to 4.2. Structural analysis of these MetAP-2 inhibitors revealed an unprecedented conformation of the His339 side-chain imidazole ring being co-planar sandwiched between the imidazole of His331 and the aryl-ether moiety, which is bound to the purine scaffold. Systematic alteration and reduction of H-bonding capability of this metal binding moiety induced an unexpected 180° flip for the triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimdine bicyclic template.

Fragment-based discovery of focal adhesion kinase inhibitors.

Chemically diverse fragment hits of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) were discovered by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) screening of our in-house fragment library. Site specific binding of the primary hits was confirmed in a competition setup using a high-affinity ATP-site inhibitor of FAK. Protein crystallography revealed the binding mode of 41 out of 48 selected fragment hits within the ATP-site. Structural comparison of the fragment binding modes with a DFG-out inhibitor of FAK initiated first synthetic follow-up optimization leading to improved binding affinity.

Discovery of Cycloalkyl[c]thiophenes as Novel Scaffolds for Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-2α Inhibitors.

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are heterodimeric transcription factors induced in diverse pathophysiological settings. Inhibition of HIF-2α has become a strategy for cancer treatment since the discovery that small molecules, upon binding into a small cavity of the HIF-2α PAS B domain, can alter its conformation and disturb the activity of the HIF dimer complex. Herein, the design, synthesis, and systematic SAR exploration of cycloalkyl[c]thiophenes as novel HIF-2α inhibitors are described, providing the first chemotype featuring an alkoxy-aryl scaffold. X-ray data confirmed the ability of these inhibitors to induce perturbation of key amino acids by appropriately presenting key pharmacophoric elements in the hydrophobic cavity. Selected compounds showed inhibition of VEGF-A secretion in cancer cells and prevention of Arg1 expression and activity in IL4-stimulated macrophages. Moreover, in vivo target gene modulation was demonstrated with compound 35r. Thus, the disclosed HIF-2α inhibitors represent valuable tools for investigating selective HIF-2α inhibition and its effect on tumor biology.

Atropisomerism - A Neglected Way to Escape Out of Solubility Flatlands.

Low solubility of drugs represents a major challenge during research and development. Ways to overcome this are either focused on formulation development or optimization of the molecular structure of the drug. The latter is not only governed by the constitution of the molecule but also by its stereochemistry. Development of enantiomers in contrast to racemic mixtures has become the state of the art over the last decades as this leads to higher potency and selectivity. Thus, enantiopure drugs require lower doses compared to their racemates. Additionally, selecting one enantiomer also leads to improved solubility of the drug compared to its racemic compound. While this effect is well known for enantiomers and racemic compounds where chirality is introduced via a chiral central atom, here we describe the first case where improved solubility is realized by selecting an axially chiral atropisomer.

Synthesis and crystal structure of rac-2-(1,3-dioxo-isoindolin-2-yl)ethyl 4-methyl-N-phenyl-N'-(tri-iso-propyl-sil-yl)benzene-sulfondiimidoate: the first member of a new substance class.

The title compound {systematic name: rac-2-[7-methyl-4-(4-methylphenyl)-4-(phenylimino)-6,6-bis(propan-2-yl)-3-oxa-4λ6-thia-5-aza-6-silaoct-4-en-1-yl]-2,3-dihydro-1H-isoindole-1,3-dione}, C32H41N3O3SSi, was synthesized by desoxychlorination of 4-methyl-N-phenyl-N'-(triisopropyl-sil-yl)benzene-sul-fon-imid-am-ide and subsequent reaction with 2-(2-hy-droxy-eth-yl)isoindoline-1,3-dione. The racemic compound was crystallized from isopropanol. The structural characterization by single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed two double-bonded nitro-gen atoms to the central sulfur atom and an overall crystal packing driven by its aromatic inter-actions.

Design and synthesis of isoquinolines and benzimidazoles as RAF kinase inhibitors.

RAF kinase plays a critical role in the RAF-MEK-ERK signaling pathway and inhibitors of RAF could be of use for the treatment of various cancer types. We have designed potent RAF-1 inhibitors bearing novel bicyclic heterocycles as key structural elements for the interaction with the hinge region. In both series exploration of the SAR was focussed on the substitution of the phenyl ring, which binds to the induced fit pocket. Overall, it was confirmed that incorporation of lipophilic substituents was needed for potent Raf inhibition and a number of potent analogues were obtained.

Discovery of 5-{2-[5-Chloro-2-(5-ethoxyquinoline-8-sulfonamido)phenyl]ethynyl}-4-methoxypyridine-2-carboxylic Acid, a Highly Selective in Vivo Useable Chemical Probe to Dissect MCT4 Biology.

Due to increased lactate production during glucose metabolism, tumor cells heavily rely on efficient lactate transport to avoid intracellular lactate accumulation and acidification. Monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4/SLC16A3) is a lactate transporter that plays a central role in tumor pH modulation. The discovery and optimization of a novel class of MCT4 inhibitors (hit 9a), identified by a cellular screening in MDA-MB-231, is described. Direct target interaction of the optimized compound 18n with the cytosolic domain of MCT4 was shown after solubilization of the GFP-tagged transporter by fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy and microscopic studies. In vitro treatment with 18n resulted in lactate efflux inhibition and reduction of cellular viability in MCT4 high expressing cells. Moreover, pharmacokinetic properties of 18n allowed assessment of lactate modulation and antitumor activity in a mouse tumor model. Thus, 18n represents a valuable tool for investigating selective MCT4 inhibition and its effect on tumor biology.

Pharmacophore alignment search tool: Influence of canonical atom labeling on similarity searching.

Previously, (Hähnke et al., J Comput Chem 2009, 30, 761) we presented the Pharmacophore Alignment Search Tool (PhAST), a ligand-based virtual screening technique representing molecules as strings coding pharmacophoric features and comparing them by global pairwise sequence alignment. To guarantee unambiguity during the reduction of two-dimensional molecular graphs to one-dimensional strings, PhAST employs a graph canonization step. Here, we present the results of the comparison of 11 different algorithms for graph canonization with respect to their impact on virtual screening. Retrospective screenings of a drug-like data set were evaluated using the BEDROC metric, which yielded averaged values between 0.4 and 0.14 for the best-performing and worst-performing canonization technique. We compared five scoring schemes for the alignments and found preferred combinations of canonization algorithms and scoring functions. Finally, we introduce a performance index that helps prioritize canonization approaches without the need for extensive retrospective evaluation.

Avoiding hERG-liability in drug design via synergetic combinations of different (Q)SAR methodologies and data sources: a case study in an industrial setting.

In this paper, we explore the impact of combining different in silico prediction approaches and data sources on the predictive performance of the resulting system. We use inhibition of the hERG ion channel target as the endpoint for this study as it constitutes a key safety concern in drug development and a potential cause of attrition. We will show that combining data sources can improve the relevance of the training set in regard of the target chemical space, leading to improved performance. Similarly we will demonstrate that combining multiple statistical models together, and with expert systems, can lead to positive synergistic effects when taking into account the confidence in the predictions of the merged systems. The best combinations analyzed display a good hERG predictivity. Finally, this work demonstrates the suitability of the SOHN methodology for building models in the context of receptor based endpoints like hERG inhibition when using the appropriate pharmacophoric descriptors.

Design of small-sized libraries by combinatorial assembly of linkers and functional groups to a given scaffold: application to the structure-based optimization of a phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor.

Combinatorial chemistry and library design have been reconciled by applying simple medicinal chemistry concepts to virtual library design. The herein reported "Scaffold-Linker-Functional Group" (SLF) approach has the aim to maximize diversity while minimizing the size of a scaffold-focused library with the aid of simple molecular variations in order to identify critical pharmacophoric elements. Straightforward rules define the way of assembling three building blocks: a conserved scaffold, a variable linker, and a variable functional group. By carefully selecting a limited number of functional groups not overlapping in pharmacophoric space, the size of the library is kept to a few hundred. As an application of the SLF approach, a small-sized combinatorial library (320 compounds) was derived from the scaffold of the known phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor zardaverine. The most interesting analogues were further prioritized for synthesis and enzyme inhibition by FlexX docking to the X-ray structure of the enzyme, leading to a 900-fold increased affinity within nine synthesized compounds and a single screening round.

Fragment-based discovery of new highly substituted 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]- and 3H-imidazolo[4,5-b]-pyridines as focal adhesion kinase inhibitors.

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is considered as an attractive target for oncology, and small-molecule inhibitors are reported to be in clinical testing. In a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-mediated fragment screening campaign, we discovered bicyclic scaffolds like 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines binding to the hinge region of FAK. By an accelerated knowledge-based fragment growing approach, essential pharmacophores were added. The establishment of highly substituted unprecedented 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine derivatizations provided compounds with submicromolar cellular FAK inhibition potential. The combination of substituents on the bicyclic templates and the nature of the core structure itself have a significant impact on the compounds FAK selectivity. Structural analysis revealed that the appropriately substituted pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine induced a rare helical DFG-loop conformation. The discovered synthetic route to introduce three different substituents independently paves the way for versatile applications of the 7-azaindole core.

Assessing the scaffold diversity of screening libraries.

Medicinal chemists have traditionally realized assessments of chemical diversity and subsequent compound acquisition, although a recent study suggests that experts are usually inconsistent in reviewing large data sets. To analyze the scaffold diversity of commercially available screening collections, we have developed a general workflow aimed at (1) identifying druglike compounds, (2) clustering them by maximum common substructures (scaffolds), (3) measuring the scaffold diversity encoded by each screening collection independently of its size, and finally (4) merging all common substructures in a nonredundant scaffold library that can easily be browsed by structural and topological queries. Starting from 2.4 million compounds out of 12 commercial sources, four categories of libraries could be identified: large- and medium-sized combinatorial libraries (low scaffold diversity), diverse libraries (medium diversity, medium size), and highly diverse libraries (high diversity, low size). The chemical space covered by the scaffold library can be searched to prioritize scaffold-focused libraries.