Understanding our love affair with p-chlorophenyl: present day implications from historical biases of reagent selection.

We report here an unexpectedly strong preference toward para substitution in phenyl rings within drug discovery programs. A population analysis of aromatic rings in various drug databases demonstrated that para substitution is favored over meta and ortho regioisomers, with p-chlorophenyl (p-ClPh) being one of the most predominant examples. We speculate that the frequency of p-ClPh is traced back to historical models of medicinal chemistry where para-substituted regioisomers were perhaps more easily accessed, and further reinforced by Topliss in 1972 that if Ph was active, the p-ClPh should be made because of ease of synthesis and hydrophobicity driven potency effects. On the basis of our analysis, the para bias has become useful conventional wisdom but perhaps so much so that a perception has been created that druglike space favors a linear aromatic structure. It is hoped this analysis will catalyze a new look at design of reagent databases and screening collections.

Trends and exceptions of physical properties on antibacterial activity for Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens.

To better understand the difficulties surrounding the identification of novel antibacterial compounds from corporate screening collections, physical properties of ∼3200 antibacterial project compounds with whole cell activity against Gram-negative or Gram-positive pathogens were profiled and compared to actives found from high throughput (HTS) screens conducted on both biochemical and phenotypic bacterial targets. The output from 23 antibacterial HTS screens illustrated that when compared to the properties of the antibacterial project compounds, the HTS actives were significantly more hydrophobic than antibacterial project compounds (typically 2-4 log units higher), and furthermore, for 14/23 HTS screens, the average clogD was higher than the screening collection average (screening collection clogD = 2.45). It was found that the consequences of this were the following: (a) lead identification programs often further gained hydrophobic character with increased biochemical potency, making the separation even larger between the physicochemical properties of known antibacterial agents and the HTS active starting point, (b) the probability of plasma protein binding and cytotoxicity are often increased, and (c) cell-based activity in Gram-negative bacteria was severely limited or, if present, demonstrated significant efflux. Our analysis illustrated that compounds least susceptible to efflux were those which were highly polar and small in MW or very large and typically zwitterionic. Hydrophobicity was often the dominant driver for HTS actives but, more often than not, precluded whole cell antibacterial activity. However, simply designing polar compounds was not sufficient for antibacterial activity and pointed to a lack of understanding of complex and specific bacterial penetration mechanisms.

Selective inhibitors of bacterial t-RNA-(N(1)G37) methyltransferase (TrmD) that demonstrate novel ordering of the lid domain.

The tRNA-(N(1)G37) methyltransferase (TrmD) is essential for growth and highly conserved in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Additionally, TrmD is very distinct from its human orthologue TRM5 and thus is a suitable target for the design of novel antibacterials. Screening of a collection of compound fragments using Haemophilus influenzae TrmD identified inhibitory, fused thieno-pyrimidones that were competitive with S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), the physiological methyl donor substrate. Guided by X-ray cocrystal structures, fragment 1 was elaborated into a nanomolar inhibitor of a broad range of Gram-negative TrmD isozymes. These compounds demonstrated no activity against representative human SAM utilizing enzymes, PRMT1 and SET7/9. This is the first report of selective, nanomolar inhibitors of TrmD with demonstrated ability to order the TrmD lid in the absence of tRNA.

Regioselective hydroformylation of sulfonamides using a scaffolding ligand.

A highly regioselective hydroformylation of allylic sulfonamides has been developed by employing a catalytic directing group. The reaction tolerates a wide range of electronically and sterically modified olefins, and only 10% of the scaffolding ligand is required to effectively control the regioselectivity.