Acrylamide Functional Group Incorporation Improves Drug-like Properties: An Example with EGFR Inhibitors.

We demonstrate that the acrylamide group can be used to improve the drug-like properties of potential drug candidates. In the EGFR inhibitor development, both the solubility and membrane permeability properties of compounds 6a and 7, each containing an acrylamide group, were substantially better than those of gefitinib (1) and AZD3759 (2), respectively. We demonstrated that incorporation of an acrylamide moiety could serve as a good strategy for improving drug-like properties.

Synthesis of polyhydroxy 7- and N-alkyl-azepanes as potent glycosidase inhibitors.

An effective synthetic method for polyhydroxylated azepanes that contain an alkyl group (Me or Bu) at either the 7- or N-positions is developed. The synthetic routes are accomplished in eight to ten steps from d-(-)-quinic acid. Among the compounds synthesized, the polyhydroxy 7-butyl azepane (compound 3), which possessed the R-configuration at C-7 position, is shown to give potent inhibition against ß-galactosidase (IC(50)= 3 microM). Preliminary biological data indicate that the length of alkyl groups along with the proper stereochemistry at the C-7 position is essential for acquiring extra binding affinity. Using similar synthetic routes, the polyhydroxy N-methyl and N-butyl azepanes are synthesized for the comparison of their biological activities.