High-throughput identification of antibacterials against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the transglycosylase.

To identify new transglycosylase inhibitors with potent anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) activities, a high-throughput screening against Staphylococcus aureus was conducted to look for antibacterial cores in our 2M compound library that consists of natural products, proprietary collection, and synthetic molecules. About 3600 hits were identified from the primary screening and the subsequent confirmation resulted in a total of 252 compounds in 84 clusters which showed anti-MRSA activities with MIC values as low as 0.1 µg/ml. Subsequent screening targeting bacterial transglycosylase identified a salicylanilide-based core that inhibited the lipid II polymerization and the moenomycin-binding activities of transglycosylase. Among the collected analogues, potent inhibitors with the IC(50) values below 10 µM against transglycosylase were identified. The non-carbonhydrate scaffold reported in this study suggests a new direction for development of bacterial transglycosylase inhibitors.

Solution-phase parallel synthesis of novel spirooxazolinoisoxazolines.

A practical and efficient solution-phase parallel synthesis of spirooxazolinoisoxazolines has been developed. Starting from methyl serine ester, the key steps are (1) acylation with concomitant beta-elimination to form an alpha,beta-unsaturated ester, (2) 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with an oxime to form an isoxazoline ring, (3) reduction with NaBH(4), and (4) mesylation and in situ cyclization to form an oxazoline ring. All reaction steps and workup procedures were modified to allow the use of automated equipment including a synthesizer, a multifunctional liquid handler, and a vacuum centrifuge. Using this equipment, we synthesized a 100-membered library of spirooxazolinoisoxazoline in high yield, high purity, and excellent regioselectivity.

Screening for HIV protease inhibitors by protection against activity-mediated cytotoxicity in Escherichia coli.

Expressed retroviral proteases are often cytotoxic to the hosts. The cytotoxicity of a tethered dimer HIV protease described previously is particularly severe that transformed Escherichia coli cells could not survive the bactericidal activity of the low-level protease produced under uninduced conditions. The presence of HIV protease inhibitors protected the transformed cells from cytotoxic effects and allowed the growth of these cells on plates and in broth. A high throughput screening method was developed to seek compounds that served as "growth factors" for the HIV protease restricted cells. Several compounds identified by this screening supported the growth of these cells, preserved their viability, and inhibited HIV protease. This assay could be used as a general method for screening for inhibitors of recombinant enzymes that produce a cytotoxic phenotype in host cells.