Fragment-to-Lead Medicinal Chemistry Publications in 2019.

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has grown and matured to a point where it is valuable to keep track of its extent and details of application. This Perspective summarizes successful fragment-to-lead stories published in 2019. It is the fifth in a series that started with literature published in 2015. The analysis of screening methods, optimization strategies, and molecular properties of hits and leads are presented in the hope of informing best practices for FBDD. Moreover, FBDD is constantly evolving, and the latest technologies and emerging trends are summarized. These include covalent FBDD, FBDD for the stabilization of proteins or protein-protein interactions, FBDD for enzyme activators, new screening technologies, and advances in library design and chemical synthesis.

Fragments: where are we now?

Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has become a mainstream technology for the identification of chemical hit matter in drug discovery programs. To date, the food and drug administration has approved four drugs, and over forty compounds are in clinical studies that can trace their origins to a fragment-based screen. The challenges associated with implementing an FBDD approach are many and diverse, ranging from the library design to developing methods for identifying weak affinity compounds. In this article, we give an overview of current progress in fragment library design, fragment to lead optimisation and on the advancement in techniques used for screening. Finally, we will comment on the future opportunities and challenges in this field.

AzoCholine Enables Optical Control of Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Neural Networks.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are essential for cellular communication in higher organisms. Even though a vast pharmacological toolset to study cholinergic systems has been developed, control of endogenous neuronal nAChRs with high spatiotemporal precision has been lacking. To address this issue, we have generated photoswitchable nAChR agonists and re-evaluated the known photochromic ligand, BisQ. Using electrophysiology, we found that one of our new compounds, AzoCholine, is an excellent photoswitchable agonist for neuronal α7 nAChRs, whereas BisQ was confirmed to be an agonist for the muscle-type nAChR. AzoCholine could be used to modulate cholinergic activity in a brain slice and in dorsal root ganglion neurons. In addition, we demonstrate light-dependent perturbation of behavior in the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans.

Asymmetric epoxidation of α-substituted acroleins catalyzed by diphenylprolinol silyl ether.

Asymmetric epoxidation of α-substituted acroleins with hydrogen peroxide has been catalyzed by diphenylprolinol diphenylmethylsilyl ether to afford α-substituted-ß,ß-unsubstituted-α,ß-epoxy aldehyde with excellent enantioselectivity and the generation of a chiral quaternary carbon center. The method was applied to a short synthesis of (R)-methyl palmoxirate.

Enantio- and diastereoselective synthesis of piperidines by coupling of four components in a "one-pot" sequence involving diphenylprolinol silyl ether mediated Michael reaction.

An efficient, asymmetric, four-component, one-pot synthesis of highly substituted piperidines with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivity was established through the diphenylprolinol silyl ether mediated Michael reaction of aldehyde and nitroalkene, followed by the domino aza-Henry reaction/hemiaminalization reaction and a Lewis acid mediated allylation or cyanation reaction. All carbons of the piperidine ring are substituted with different groups, and its five contiguous stereocenters are completely controlled in both relative and absolute senses.

Polymeric ethyl glyoxylate in an asymmetric aldol reaction catalyzed by diarylprolinol.

Diarylprolinol was found to be an effective organocatalyst of the direct, enantioselective aldol reaction of commercially available polymeric ethyl glyoxylate, affording gamma-ethoxycarbonyl-beta-hydroxy aldehydes, versatile synthetic intermediates, in good yield with excellent enantioselectivity.

Organic solvent-free, enantio- and diastereoselective, direct Mannich reaction in the presence of water.

An organocatalyst-mediated, asymmetric Mannich reaction in the presence of water without using organic solvents has been developed. A highly reactive siloxytetrazole hybrid catalyst has been developed for the reaction of dimethoxyacetaldehyde, while the sodium salt of siloxyproline is an effective catalyst of alpha-imino glyoxylate. Excellent enantioselectivity can be realized, and the usage of organic solvents can be reduced compared to the conventional reactions in organic solvents.

L-proline-catalyzed enantioselective one-pot cross-Mannich reaction of aldehydes.

This protocol describes a procedure for the synthesis of syn-beta-amino alpha-substituted aldehydes, versatile intermediates in synthetic organic chemistry, via asymmetric, direct, one-pot, three-component, cross-Mannich reaction of two different aldehydes. The reaction consists of two steps; one is the formation of imine by the reaction of aldehyde and p-anisidine in the presence of Pro, and the second step is the enantioselective addition reaction of enamine generated from the other aldehyde and Pro with the imine generated in the first step. As the aldehyde easily racemizes, gamma-amino alcohol was isolated and characterized after reduction. The yield and diastereo- and enantioselectivities are generally excellent. It will take approximately 26 h to complete the protocol: 0.5 h to set up the reaction, 20.5 h for the reaction and 5 h for the isolation and purification.