Puckering the planar landscape of fragments: design and synthesis of a 3D cyclobutane fragment library

Synthesis and Chemoinformatic Analysis of Fluorinated Piperidines as 3D Fragments for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery

The concise synthesis of a small library of fluorinated piperidines from readily available dihydropyridinone derivatives has been described. The effect of the fluorination on different positions has then been evaluated by chemoinformatic tools. In particular, the compounds' pKa's have been calculated, revealing that the fluorine atoms notably lowered their basicity, which is correlated to the affinity for hERG channels resulting in cardiac toxicity. The "lead-likeness" and three-dimensionality have also been evaluated to assess their ability as useful fragments for drug design. A random screening on a panel of representative proteolytic enzymes was then carried out and revealed that one scaffold is recognized by the catalytic pocket of 3CLPro (main protease of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus).

Fragment-to-Lead Medicinal Chemistry Publications in 2022

This Perspective is the eighth in an annual series that summarizes successful fragment-to-lead (F2L) case studies published each year. A tabulated summary of relevant articles published in 2022 is provided, and features such as target class, screening methods, and ligand efficiency are discussed both for the 2022 examples and for the combined examples over the years 2015-2022. In addition, trends and new developments in the field are summarized. In 2022, 18 publications described successful fragment-to-lead studies, including the development of three clinical compounds (MTRX1719, MK-8189, and BI-823911).

2 + 2 Trapping of Acyloxy-1,2-cyclohexadienes with Styrenes and Electron-Deficient Olefins

Oxygenated-1,2-cyclohexadienes and their unsubstituted counterpart can be generated under mild conditions by fluoride-induced desilylation and undergo intermolecular [2 + 2]-cycloaddition reactions with a variety of alkene traps to afford bicyclo[4.2.0]octenes. Both styrenes and electron-deficient olefins react in good conversion and with complete regioselectivity in favor of cyclobutane formation at the unsubstituted C2/C3 carbons of the C1-substituted cyclic allenes. Diastereoselectivities are modest (1.1-5.7:1) with a preference for the exo-isomer.