From structure to clinic: Design of a muscarinic M1 receptor agonist with potential to treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Current therapies for Alzheimer's disease seek to correct for defective cholinergic transmission by preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, these however have limited clinical efficacy. An alternative approach is to directly activate cholinergic receptors responsible for learning and memory. The M1-muscarinic acetylcholine (M1) receptor is the target of choice but has been hampered by adverse effects. Here we aimed to design the drug properties needed for a well-tolerated M1-agonist with the potential to alleviate cognitive loss by taking a stepwise translational approach from atomic structure, cell/tissue-based assays, evaluation in preclinical species, clinical safety testing, and finally establishing activity in memory centers in humans. Through this approach, we rationally designed the optimal properties, including selectivity and partial agonism, into HTL9936-a potential candidate for the treatment of memory loss in Alzheimer's disease. More broadly, this demonstrates a strategy for targeting difficult GPCR targets from structure to clinic.

Enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-minovincine in nine chemical steps: an approach to ketone activation in cascade catalysis.

Dressed to the nines: The first enantioselective total synthesis of (-)-minovincine has been accomplished in nine chemical steps and 13 % overall yield. A novel, one-step Diels-Alder/ß-elimination/conjugate addition organocascade sequence allowed rapid access to the central tetracyclic core in an asymmetric manner. Boc=tert-butoxycarbonyl, LG=leaving group, PMB=para-methoxybenzyl.

Structure-Based Drug Discovery of N-((R)-3-(7-Methyl-1H-indazol-5-yl)-1-oxo-1-(((S)-1-oxo-3-(piperidin-4-yl)-1-(4-(pyridin-4-yl)piperazin-1-yl)propan-2-yl)amino)propan-2-yl)-2'-oxo-1',2'-dihydrospiro[piperidine-4,4'-pyrido[2,3-d][1,3]oxazine]-1-carboxamide (HTL22562): A Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide Receptor Antagonist for Acute Treatment of Migraine.

Structure-based drug design enabled the discovery of 8, HTL22562, a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist. The structure of 8 complexed with the CGRP receptor was determined at a 1.6 Å resolution. Compound 8 is a highly potent, selective, metabolically stable, and soluble compound suitable for a range of administration routes that have the potential to provide rapid systemic exposures with resultant high levels of receptor coverage (e.g., subcutaneous). The low lipophilicity coupled with a low anticipated clinically efficacious plasma exposure for migraine also suggests a reduced potential for hepatotoxicity. These properties have led to 8 being selected as a clinical candidate for acute treatment of migraine.

Relaying stereochemistry through aromatic ureas: 1,9 and 1,15 remote stereocontrol.

The well-defined conformation of an N,N'-diarylurea allows a chiral sulfinyl substituent to influence diastereoselectivity in the formation of new stereogenic centres up to 14 bond lengths away.

Helix persistence and breakdown in oligoureas of metaphenylenediamine: apparent diastereotopicity as a spectroscopic marker of helix length in solution.

Oligomeric ureas derived from m-phenylenediamine with chain lengths of up to seven urea linkages were made by iterative synthetic pathways. Three families were synthesized: 4 and 20, bearing a terminal chiral sulfinyl group; 24, bearing a terminal rotationally restricted amide group, and 30 bearing a terminal achiral bromophenyl group. The distal end of the oligomers was capped with an N-benzyl group to act as a diastereotopic probe. With a terminal sulfinyl group, the 1H NMR signals arising from the CH2 group of the diastereotopic probe remained anisochronous even when separated from the stereogenic center by up to 24 bonds (in 20c). With a rotationally restricted amide, anisochronicity was no longer apparent beyond 17 bond lengths (in 24c). No anisochronicity was observable with a terminal bromophenyl group. We interpret these results as indicating that the oligoureas of short lengths adopt a defined helical secondary structure in solution, but that in longer oligomers the helicity breaks down and transmission of chirality in these systems is limited to about 24 bond lengths. We propose that "apparent diastereotopicity" (anisochronicity) provides a general empirical method for identifying secondary structure in solution.

Conformation and stereodynamics of 2,2'-disubstituted N,N'-diaryl ureas.

Except in the most hindered of cases, N,N'-diaryl N,N'-dimethyl ureas adopt a conformation with the two aryl rings disposed cis to one another. Variable temperature NMR studies reveal the rate at which the Ar-N bonds rotate as well as the conformational preference of ortho disubstituted ureas in which more than one cis orientation is possible. In general, a conformation in which the aryl rings lie close in space but with their most bulky 2-substituents aligned anti is preferred, but with particularly bulky 2-substituents, conformations in which one of the aryl rings points away from the other may also be populated.

Achieving conformational control over C-C, C-N and C-O bonds in biaryls, N,N'-diarylureas and diaryl ethers: advantages of a relay axis.

The orientation of Ar-C, Ar-N and Ar-O bonds in biaryls, N,N'-diarylureas and diaryl ethers (whose conformers are distinguishable by NMR) may be controlled with a selectivity up to >95 : 5 by an adjacent stereogenic centre; the selectivity may be greater when a second stereogenic axis is inserted between the controlling centre and the slowly rotating bond.

Ring-selective functionalization of N,N'-diarylureas by regioselective N-alkylation and directed ortho metalation.

[reaction: see text]. Unsymmetrical N,N'-diarylureas may be alkylated regioselectively at the more sterically congested nitrogen atom. The resulting mono-N-alkylated ureas undergo directed metalation (ortholithiation) with sec-BuLi to yield, on electrophilic quench, products functionalized regioselectively at the ring bearing the alkylated nitrogen atom.

Asymmetric decarboxylative allylation of oxindoles.

An asymmetric decarboxylative palladium-catalyzed allylation of alkyl- and aryl-substituted oxindoles has been developed, enabling the installation of an all-carbon quaternary chiral center at the oxindole 3-position in excellent yields and good to excellent enantioselectivity. An intriguing substrate-dependent reversal in stereoselectivity has been observed, whereby the size of the substituent determines the facial selectivity in the allylation step.

A practical flow reactor for continuous organic photochemistry.

[reaction: see text] Compact flow reactors have been constructed and optimized to perform continuous organic photochemistry on a large scale. The reactors were constructed from commercially available or customized immersion well equipment combined with UV-transparent, solvent-resistant fluoropolymer (FEP) tubing. The reactors were assessed using the [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of malemide 1 and 1-hexyne forming the cyclobutene product 2 and the intramolecular [5 + 2] photocycloaddition of 3,4-dimethyl-1-pent-4-enylpyrrole-2,5-dione 3 to form the bicyclic azepine 4. The reactors were shown to be capable of producing >500 g of 2 and 175 g of 4 in a continuous 24 h processing period. Due to the facile control of irradiation time, the continuous flow reactor was also shown to be superior to a batch reactor for performing a problematic photochemical reaction on a larger scale.

Slow interconversion of enantiomeric conformers or atropisomers of anilide and urea derivatives of 2-substituted anilines.

N-Acylated 2-substituted anilines undergo slow Ar-N bond rotation, allowing in some cases isolation of enantiomeric or diastereoisomeric atropisomers and in others the determination of the rate of Ar-N bond rotation by NMR. 2-Iodoanilides bearing a branched N-substituent demonstrate sufficient enantiomeric stability to be resolvable, either by HPLC or by formation of diastereoisomeric lactanilide derivatives. For the first time, the rates of Ar-N rotation in 2-substituted N,N'-diarylureas have been established: they mainly fall in the region of 50-70 kJ mol(-1) with a relatively weak dependence on substituent size.