Small molecule protein kinase inhibitors approved by regulatory agencies outside of the United States.

Owing to genetic alterations and overexpression, the dysregulation of protein kinases plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune and neoplastic disorders and protein kinase antagonists have become an important drug target. Although the efficacy of imatinib in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia in the United States in 2001 was the main driver of protein kinase inhibitor drug discovery, this was preceded by the approval of fasudil (a ROCK antagonist) in Japan in 1995 for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm. There are 21 small molecule protein kinase inhibitors that are approved in China, Japan, Europe, and South Korea that are not approved in the United Sates and 75 FDA-approved inhibitors in the United States. Of the 21 agents, eleven target receptor protein-tyrosine kinases, eight inhibit nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinases, and two block protein-serine/threonine kinases. All 21 drugs are orally bioavailable or topically effective. Of the non-FDA approved drugs, sixteen are prescribed for the treatment of neoplastic diseases, three are directed toward inflammatory disorders, one is used for glaucoma, and fasudil is used in the management of vasospasm. The leading targets of kinase inhibitors approved by both international regulatory agencies and by the FDA are members of the EGFR family, the VEGFR family, and the JAK family. One-third of the 21 internationally approved drugs are not compliant with Lipinski's rule of five for orally bioavailable drugs. The rule of five relies on four parameters including molecular weight, number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, and the Log of the partition coefficient.

Rule of five violations among the FDA-approved small molecule protein kinase inhibitors.

Because genetic alterations including mutations, overexpression, translocations, and dysregulation of protein kinases are involved in the pathogenesis of many illnesses, this enzyme family is the target of many drug discovery programs in the pharmaceutical industry. Overall, the US FDA has approved 74 small molecule protein kinase inhibitors, nearly all of which are orally effective. Of the 74 approved drugs, thirty-nine block receptor protein-tyrosine kinases, nineteen target nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinases, twelve are directed against protein-serine/threonine protein kinases, and four target dual specificity protein kinases. The data indicate that 65 of these medicinals are approved for the management of neoplasms (51 against solid tumors such as breast, colon, and lung cancers, eight against nonsolid tumors such as leukemia, and six against both types of tumors). Nine of the FDA-approved kinase inhibitors form covalent bonds with their target enzymes and they are accordingly classified as TCIs (targeted covalent inhibitors). Medicinal chemists have examined the physicochemical properties of drugs that are orally effective. Lipinski's rule of five (Ro5) is a computational procedure that is used to estimate solubility, membrane permeability, and pharmacological effectiveness in the drug-discovery setting. It relies on four parameters including molecular weight, number of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, and the Log of the partition coefficient. Other important descriptors include the lipophilic efficiency, the polar surface area, and the number of rotatable bonds and aromatic rings. We tabulated these and other properties of the FDA-approved kinase inhibitors. Of the 74 approved drugs, 30 fail to comply with the rule of five.

Study of Lipophilicity and ADME Properties of 1,9-Diazaphenothiazines with Anticancer Action.

Lipophilicity is one of the key properties of a potential drug that determines the solubility, the ability to penetrate through cell barriers, and transport to the molecular target. It affects pharmacokinetic processes such as adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME). The 10-substituted 1,9-diazaphenothiazines show promising if not impressive in vitro anticancer potential, which is associated with the activation of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway connected with to induction BAX, forming a channel in MOMP and releasing cytochrome c for the activation of caspases 9 and 3. In this publication, the lipophilicity of previously obtained 1,9-diazaphenothiazines was determined theoretically using various computer programs and experimentally using reverse-phase thin-layer chromatography (RP-TLC) and a standard curve. The study presents other physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and toxicological properties affecting the bioavailability of the test compounds. ADME analysis was determined in silico using the SwissADME server. Molecular targets studies were identified in silico using the SwissTargetPrediction server. Lipinski's rule of five, Ghose's, and Veber's rules were checked for the tested compounds, confirming their bioavailability.

Proteolysis Targeting Chimeric Molecules: Tuning Molecular Strategies for a Clinically Sound Listening.

From seminal evidence in the early 2000s, the opportunity to drive the specific knockdown of a protein of interest (POI) through pharmacological entities called Proteolysis Targeting Chimeric molecules, or PROTACs, has become a possible therapeutic option with the involvement of these compounds in clinical trials for cancers and autoimmune diseases. The fulcrum of PROTACs pharmacodynamics is to favor the juxtaposition between an E3 ligase activity and the POI, followed by the ubiquitination of the latter and its degradation by the proteasome system. In the face of an apparently modular design of these drugs, being constituted by an E3 ligase binding moiety and a POI-binding moiety connected by a linker, the final structure of an efficient PROTAC degradation enhancer often goes beyond the molecular descriptors known to influence the biological activity, specificity, and pharmacokinetics, requiring a rational improvement through appropriate molecular strategies. Starting from the description of the basic principles underlying the activity of the PROTACs to the evaluation of the strategies for the improvement of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics and rational design, this review examines the molecular elements that have been shown to be effective in allowing the evolution of these compounds from interesting proof of concepts to potential aids of clinical interest.

Synthesis, antitubercular, antimicrobial activities and molecular docking study of quinoline bearing dihydropyrimidines.

In order to develop the antimicrobial and antitubercular agents, we have derived quinoline bearing dihydropyrimidine analogues 5a-o and structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic techniques. Further, we have calculated the molecular properties prediction and drug-likeness by Molinspiration property calculation toolkit and MolSoft software, respectively. The most active compound against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (5m, MIC = 0.20 µg/mL) also possessed a maximum drug-likeness model score (0.42). Compounds 5m, 5g and 5k were possessed promising antibacterial activity against tested bacterial species. Compound 5k was the only compound to have eye-catcher antifungal activity. Furthermore, the MTT cytotoxicity results on HeLa cells suggested lower cytotoxicity of biologically active compounds. Supramolecular interactions of the synthesized compounds has been assessed my means of molecular docking studies. Although all the synthesized compounds are showing preferably good interactions with their respective proteins, their binding free energies values suggest that these molecules are preferred for antitubercular activity rather than antimicrobial activity.

Synthesis and in vitro study of antiproliferative benzyloxy dihydropyrimidinones.

In this study, we report on antiproliferative benzyloxy dihydropyrimidinones (DHPMs) produced by the Biginelli reaction of benzyloxy benzaldehyde, urea, and diverse 1,3-diones. The reaction was catalyzed by lanthanum triflate and completed within 1-1.5 h, with 74-97% yield. The antiproliferative assay was carried out for all synthesized dihydropyrimidinones against six human solid tumor cell lines. Six compounds showed good antiproliferative activity with GI50 values below 5 µM. Among all the synthesized compounds, the most potent derivative showed good antiproliferative activity against all cell lines with GI50 values in the range of 1.1-3.1 µM. These DHPMs comply with druglikeness. Furthermore, ADMET prediction and the effect of P-glycoprotein on the antiproliferative activity were also studied. Overall, our method allows eco-friendly access to benzyloxy DHPMs as potential anticancer drugs.

V-Dock: Fast Generation of Novel Drug-like Molecules Using Machine-Learning-Based Docking Score and Molecular Optimization.

We propose a computational workflow to design novel drug-like molecules by combining the global optimization of molecular properties and protein-ligand docking with machine learning. However, most existing methods depend heavily on experimental data, and many targets do not have sufficient data to train reliable activity prediction models. To overcome this limitation, protein-ligand docking calculations must be performed using the limited data available. Such docking calculations during molecular generation require considerable computational time, preventing extensive exploration of the chemical space. To address this problem, we trained a machine-learning-based model that predicted the docking energy using SMILES to accelerate the molecular generation process. Docking scores could be accurately predicted using only a SMILES string. We combined this docking score prediction model with the global molecular property optimization approach, MolFinder, to find novel molecules exhibiting the desired properties with high values of predicted docking scores. We named this design approach V-dock. Using V-dock, we efficiently generated many novel molecules with high docking scores for a target protein, a similarity to the reference molecule, and desirable drug-like and bespoke properties, such as QED. The predicted docking scores of the generated molecules were verified by correlating them with the actual docking scores.

A perspective on the physicochemical and biopharmaceutic properties of marketed antiseizure drugs-From phenobarbital to cenobamate and beyond.

The success rate from first time in man to regulatory approval of central nervous system (CNS) drugs is lower than the overall success rate across all therapeutic indications (eg, cardiovascular, infectious diseases). To understand the reasons for drug-candidate failure and to capture trends in antiseizure drug (ASD) design, we have analyzed the physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of marketed ASDs in comparison with new ASDs in development. Our comparative analysis included molecular weight (MW), logP, polar surface area (PSA), the "Lipinski rule of five," and the CNS Multiparameter Optimization (MPO) score. LogP is the logarithm of a drug-partition coefficient (P) between n-octanol and water. PSA is the molecule's surface sum of its polar atoms. ASDs' biopharmaceutical properties were classified according to their water solubility, permeability, and route of elimination as outlined by the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) and Biopharmaceutics Drug Disposition Classification System (BDDCS). For old ASDs (1912-1990), logP, PSA, and CNS MPO values ranged between 0.4 and 2.8, 37 and 87 Å2 , and 4.4 and 6.0, respectively. For second-generation ASDs (1990-2008), PSA values ranged between 39 and 116 Å2 . However, logP values showed a difference between the lipophilic (logP = 0.3-3.21) and hydrophilic (logP = -0.6 to -2.16) ASDs. For third-generation ASDs (2008-2020), logP and PSA ranged between 0.3 and 3.5 and between 57 and 76 Å2 , respectively. The mean CNS MPO scores of all marketed ASDs were similar, ranging between 4.9 and 5.4, and were similar to those of the ASDs in development (3.5-5.8). Most ASDs belong to BCS and BDDCS classes 1 and 2. MW, logP, CNS MPO score, and PSA assess lipophilicity and correlate with antiseizure activity. To succeed, a new small-molecule ASD must have MW < 375 and PSA < 140Å2 , belong to BCS and/or BDDCS class 1 or 2, and obey the Lipinski rule of five: logP < 5, MW < 500, and <5 and <10 of hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors, respectively. The similarity in the MW, logP, and PSA values of marketed and new drugs in development indicates a conservative trend in ASD design.

Synthesis, Molecular Properties Prediction and Antimicrobial Activity of Imidazolyl Schiff Bases, Triazoles and Azetidinones.

Benzylidenehydrazinyl imidazoles (3) are prepared from 2-hydrazinyl imidazoles (2) on treatment with hydrazine. The imine functionality in 3 is utilized to develop 5'-aryl-N-(4-aryl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-amines (5) by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of diazomethane followed by aromatization with I2 in DMSO. Compounds 3 are also explored to prepare 4'-aryl-1-(4-aryl-1H-imidazol-2-ylamino)-3-chloroazetidin-2-ones (6) on treatment with chloroacetyl chloride. The Molinspiration calculations predicted that 3, 5 and 6 have molecular hydrophobicity, conformational flexibility, good intestinal absorption and bioactivity scores. The chloro, bromo and nitro substituted imidazolyl azetidinones (6c, 6d, 6f) and nitro substituted imidazolyl triazole (5f) exhibited excellent antibacterial activity on B. subtilis, whereas chloro and nitro substituted imidazolyl triazoles (5c, 5f) showed prominent antifungal activity on A. niger.

2-Arylidene-1-indandiones as Pleiotropic Agents with Antioxidant and Inhibitory Enzymes Activities.

Indandiones are a relatively new group of compounds presenting a wide range of biological activities. The synthesis of these compounds was performed via a Knoevenagel reaction between an aldehyde and 1,3-indandione and were obtained with a yield up to 54%. IR, 1H-Nucleic Magnetic Resonance (NMR), 13C-NMR, LC/MS ESI+ and elemental analysis were used for the confirmation of the structures of the novel derivatives. Lipophilicity values of compounds were calculated theoretically and experimentally by reversed chromatography method as values RM. The novel derivatives were studied through in vitro and in vivo experiments for their activity as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents and as inhibitors of lipoxygenase, trypsin, and thrombin. The inhibition of the carrageenin-induced paw edema (CPE) was also determined for representative structures. In the above series of experiments, we find that all the compounds showed moderate to satisfying interaction with the stable DPPH free radical in relation to the concentration and the time 2-arylidene-1-indandione (10) was the strongest. We observed moderate or very low antioxidant activities for selected compounds in the decolorization assay with ABTS+•. Most of the compounds showed high anti-lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid induced by AAPH.2-arylidene-1-indandione (7) showed a strongly inhibited soybean LOX. Only 2-arylidene-1-indandione (3) showed moderate scavenging activity of superoxide anion, whereas 2-arylidene-1-indandione (8) and 2-arylidene-1-indandione (9) showed very strong inhibition on proteolysis. 2-arylidene-1-indandione (8) highly inhibited serine protease thrombin. 2-arylidene-1-indandiones (7, 8 and 9) can be used as lead multifunctional molecules. The compounds were active for the inhibition of the CPE (30-57%) with 2-arylidene-1-indandione (1) being the most potent (57%). According to the predicted results a great number of the derivatives can cross the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB), act in CNS and easily transported, diffused, and absorbed. Efforts are conducted a) to correlate quantitatively the in vitro/in vivo results with the most important physicochemical properties of the structural components of the molecules and b) to clarify the correlation of actions among them to propose a possible mechanism of action. Hydration energy as EHYDR and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) better describe their antioxidant profile whereas the lipophilicity as RM values governs the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity. Docking studies are performed and showed that soybean LOX oxidation was prevented by blocking into the hydrophobic domain the substrates to the active site.

Design, synthesis, in vitro and in silico evaluation of new pyrrole derivatives as monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

In an effort to develop potent monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, new pyrrole derivatives were obtained via the selective reduction of the CC bonds of 1-(1-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-3-[5-(aryl)furan-2-yl]prop-2-en-1-ones through palladium catalyzed hydrogenation in ethanol. The synthesized compounds were screened for their inhibitory effects on MAO-A and MAO-B by an in vitro fluorometric method. The selectivity index (SI) value was given as the ratio of IC50 (MAO-A)/IC50 (MAO-B) for each compound. 3-(5-(4-Chlorophenyl)furan-2-yl)-1-(1-methyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)propan-1-one (6) was identified as the most selective MAO-A inhibitor in this series, with an IC50 value of 0.162 µM and a SI value of 0.002. Kinetic studies were also carried out to assess the nature of MAO-A inhibition by compound 6. According to Lineweaver-Burk plots, compound 6 was found to be a competitive MAO-A inhibitor and the Ki value of compound 6 was determined as 0.1221 µM. Docking studies were performed for compound 6 and clorgyline using the human MAO-A crystal structure (PDB ID: 2Z5Y). The docking results showed that compound 6 presented similar interactions as clorgyline in the active center cavity of the enzyme. Molinspiration software was used to determine the physicochemical parameters of all compounds for an evaluation of their compliance to Lipinski's rule of five. Compound 6 did not violate Lipinski's rule, making it a potential orally bioavailable therapeutic agent.

Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of a New Series of Thiazole-Based Anticancer Agents as Potent Akt Inhibitors.

In an attempt to develop potent anticancer agents targeting Akt, new thiazole derivatives (1⁻10) were synthesized and investigated for their cytotoxic effects on A549 human lung adenocarcinoma, C6 rat glioma, and NIH/3T3 (healthy) mouse embryonic fibroblast cell lines. The most potent compounds were also investigated for their effects on apoptosis and Akt pathway. The most promising anticancer agent was found to be 2-[2-((4-(4-cyanophenoxy)phenyl)methylene)hydrazinyl]-4-(4-cyanophenyl)thiazole (6), due to its selective inhibitory effects on A549 and C6 cells with IC50 values of 12.0 ± 1.73 µg/mL and 3.83 ± 0.76 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, compound 6 increased early and late apoptotic cell population (32.8%) in C6 cell line more than cisplatin (28.8%) and significantly inhibited the Akt enzyme. The molecular docking study was performed to predict the possible binding modes of compounds A, 6, and 8 inside the active site of Akt (PDB code: 4EJN). Molecular docking simulations were found to be in accordance with in vitro studies and, hence, supported the biological activity. A computational study for the prediction of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties of all compounds was also performed. On the basis of Lipinski's rule of five, the compounds were expected to be potential orally bioavailable agents.

Novel 1-(2-pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazine derivatives as selective monoamine oxidase (MAO)-A inhibitors.

In the present study, a new series of 2-[4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazin-1-yl]-2-oxoethyl 4-substituted piperazine-1-carbodithioate derivatives (2a-n) were synthesized and screened for their monoamine oxidase A and B inhibitory activity. The structures of compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic methods and some physicochemical properties of new compounds were predicted using Molinspiration and MolSoft programs. Compounds 2-[4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazin-1-yl]-2-oxoethyl 4-(4-nitrophenyl)piperazine-1-carbodithioate (2j) and 2-[4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)piperazin-1-yl]-2-oxoethyl 4-benzhydrylpiperazine-1-carbodithioate (2m) exhibited selective MAO-A inhibitory activity with IC50 = 23.10, 24.14 µM, respectively. Some of the biological results were found in accordance with the obtained in silico data based on Lipinski's fule of five.

Alkoxy and Enediyne Derivatives Containing 1,4-Benzoquinone Subunits-Synthesis and Antitumor Activity.

The compounds produced by a living organism are most commonly as medicinal agents and starting materials for the preparation of new semi-synthetic derivatives. One of the largest groups of natural compounds consists of products containing a 1,4-benzoquinone subunit. This fragment occurs in three enediyne antibiotics, dynemicin A, deoxydynemicin A, and uncilamicin, which exhibit high biological activity. A series of alkoxy derivatives containing 1,4-naphthoquinone, 5,8-quinolinedione, and 2-methyl-5,8-quinolinedione moieties was synthesized. Moreover, the 1,4-benzoquinone subunit was contacted with an enediyne fragment. All obtained compounds were characterized by spectroscopy and spectrometry methods. The resulting alkane, alkene, alkyne and enediyne derivatives were tested as antitumor agents. They showed high cytotoxic activity depending on the type of 1,4-benzoquinone subunit and the employed tumor cell lines. The synthesized derivatives fulfill the Lipinski Rule of Five and have low permeability through the blood-brain barrier.

Synthesis, molecular properties prediction and anticancer, antioxidant evaluation of new edaravone derivatives.

A series of new edaravone derivatives 3-7 have been synthesized, characterised using various spectroscopic techniques and screened for their in vitro anti-cancer, antioxidant activities. Structure of 5d was further substantiated through single crystal X-ray diffraction. Among the tested, 5l exhibited pronounced activity against PC3 cancer cells. Compounds 5i, 5l, 7c showed potent activity against A549 cancer cells. Products 5k, 6, 7c demonstrated good antioxidant activity with MIC values of 18.60, 16.27, 16.07µg/mL respectively. Further the reported analogues were also tested on normal HEK293T cells and displayed low to good safer profiles. Derivatives 5l and 7c have come out to be safer potent anticancer, antioxidant agents. Additionally, the target products were subjected to their molecular properties prediction and drug likeness by employing Molinspiration and Osiris property explorer toolkits. None of them violated Lipinski's boundaries classifying the title compounds as potential anticancer and antioxidant agents.

Studies on molecular properties prediction, antitubercular and antimicrobial activities of novel quinoline based pyrimidine motifs.

In the present study, a series of 3-((6-(2,6-dichloroquinolin-3-yl)-4-aryl-1,6-dihydro-pyrimidin-2-yl)thio)propanenitriles 5a-o were synthesized and subjected to molecular properties prediction and drug-likeness model score by Molinspiration property calculation toolkit and MolSoft software, respectively. Compound 5m (4-OCH3) was found to be maximum drug-likeness model score (0.42). Among the screened compounds, 5m showed the most promising antitubercular activity with MIC of 0.20 µg/mL, while compounds 5g, 5k and 5m displayed broad spectrum antibacterial activity against all the bacterial strains. Moreover, compound 5k was found to be the most potent antifungal agent. Further, the results of preliminary MTT cytotoxicity studies on HeLa cells suggested that potent antimicrobial activity of 5g, 5k and 5m was escorted by low cytotoxicity.

Sulfur, selenium and tellurium pseudopeptides: synthesis and biological evaluation.

A new series of sulfur, selenium and tellurium peptidomimetic compounds was prepared employing the Passerini and Ugi isocyanide based multicomponent reactions (IMCRs). These reactions were clearly superior to conventional methods traditionally used for organoselenium and organotellurium synthesis, such as classical nucleophilic substitution and coupling methods. From the biological point of view, these compounds are of considerable interest because of suspected anticancer and antimicrobial activities. While the sulfur and selenium containing compounds generally did not show either anticancer or antimicrobial activities, their tellurium based counterparts frequently exhibited antimicrobial activity and were also cytotoxic. Some of the compounds synthesized even showed selective activity against certain cancer cells in cell culture. These compounds induced a cell cycle delay in the G0/G1 phase. At closer inspection, the ER and the actin cytoskeleton appeared to be the primary cellular targets of these tellurium compounds, in line with some of our previous studies. As most of these peptidomimetic compounds also comply with Lipinski's Rule of Five, they promise good bioavailability, which needs to be studied as part of future investigations.

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic, hemolytic activities and in silico POM/DFT/DNA-binding and pharmacokinetic analyses of new sulfonamide bearing thiazolidin-4-ones.

In this work, Schiff bases and Thiazolidin-4-ones, were synthesized using Sonication and Microwave techniques, respectively. The Schiff base derivatives (3a-b) were synthesized via the reaction of Sulfathiazole (1) with benzaldehyde derivatives (2a-b), followed by the synthesis of 4-thiazoledinone (4a-b) derivatives by cyclizing the synthesized Schiff bases through thioglycholic acid. All the synthesized compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as FT IR, NMR and HRMS. The synthesized compounds were tested for their in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant and in vivo cytotoxicity and hemolysis ability. The synthesized compounds displayed better antimicrobial and antioxidant activity and low toxicity in comparison to reference drugs and negative controls, respectively. The hemolysis test revealed the compounds exhibit lower hemolytic effects and hemolytic values are comparatively low and the safety of compounds is in comparison with standard drugs. Theoretical calculations were carried out by using the molecular operating environment (MOE) and Gaussian computing software and observations were in good agreement with the in vitro and in vivo biological activities. Petra/Osiris/Molinspiration (POM) results indicate the presence of three combined antibacterial, antiviral and antitumor pharmacophore sites. The molecular docking revealed the significant binding affinities and non-bonding interactions between the compounds and Erwinia Chrysanthemi (PDB ID: 1SHK). The molecular dynamics simulation under in silico physiological conditions revealed a stable conformation and binding pattern in a stimulating environment. HighlightsNew series of Thaiazolidin-4-one derivatives have been synthesized.Sonication and microwave techniques are used.Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, cytotoxicity, and hemolysis activities were observed for all synthesized compounds.Molecular Docking and DFT/POM analyses have been predicted.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Evaluating physiochemical properties of FDA-approved orally administered drugs.

INTRODUCTION: Analyses of orally administered FDA-approved drugs from 1990 to 1993 enabled the identification of a set of physiochemical properties known as Lipinski's Rule of Five (Ro5). The original Ro5 and extended versions still remain the reference criteria for drug development programs. Since many bioactive compounds do not conform to the Ro5, we validated the relevance of and adherence to these rulesets in a contemporary cohort of FDA-approved drugs. AREAS COVERED: The authors noted that a significant proportion of FDA-approved orally administered parent compounds from 2011 to 2022 deviate from the original Ro5 criteria (~38%) or the Ro5 with extensions (~53%). They then evaluated if a contemporary Ro5 criteria (cRo5) could be devised to better predict oral bioavailability. Furthermore, they discuss many case studies showcasing the need for and benefit of increasing the size of certain compounds and cover several evolving strategies for improving oral bioavailability. EXPERT OPINION: Despite many revisions to the Ro5, the authors find that no single proposed physiochemical rule has universal concordance with absolute oral bioavailability. Innovations in drug delivery and formulation have dramatically expanded the range of physicochemical properties and the chemical diversity for oral administration.

Inhibition of protein misfolding and aggregation by steroidal quinoxalin-2(1H)-one and their molecular docking studies.

A series of D-ring fused 16-substituted steroidal quinoxalin-2(1H)-one attached to an electron-releasing (ER) or electron-withdrawing (EW) groups via steroidal oxoacetate intermediate were synthesized to investigate their protein aggregation inhibition potential using human lysozyme (HLZ). The influence of the type of substituent at the C-6 positions of the quinoxalin-2(1H)-one ring on the protein aggregation inhibition potential was observed, showing that the EW moiety improved the protein aggregation inhibition potency. Of all the evaluated compounds, NO2-substituted quinoxalin-2(1H)-one derivative 13 was the most active compound and had a maximum protein aggregation inhibition effect. Significant stabilization effects strongly support the binding of the most biologically active steroidal quinoxalin-2(1H)-one with docking studies. The predicted physicochemical and ADME properties lie within a drug-like space which shows no violation of Lipinski's rule of five except compounds 12 and 13. Combined, our results suggest that D-ring fused 16-substituted steroidal quinoxalin-2(1H)-one has the potential to modulate the protein aggregation inhibition effect.