Synthesis of constrained thiorphan analogs as inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of Trypanosoma brucei trypanothione synthetase inhibitors

Trypanothione synthetase (TryS) is essential for the survival of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which causes human African trypanosomiasis. It is one of only a handful of chemically validated targets for T. brucei in vivo. To identify novel inhibitors of TbTryS we screened our in-house diverse compound library that contains 62,000 compounds. This resulted in the identification of six novel hit series of TbTryS inhibitors. Herein we describe the SAR exploration of these hit series, which gave rise to one common series with potency against the enzyme target. Cellular studies on these inhibitors confirmed on-target activity, and the compounds have proven to be very useful tools for further study of the trypanothione pathway in kinetoplastids.

Synthesis of orthogonally protected (R)- and (S)-2-methylcysteine via an enzymatic desymmeterization and Curtius rearrangement

A synthesis of differentially protected (R)- and (S)-2-methylcysteines is described. Monomethylation of dimethylmalonate followed by alkylation with tert-butylchloromethyl sulfide gave an achiral diester. Desymmeterization by selective hydrolysis of one ester with pig-liver esterase gave the acid in 97% chemical yield and 91% enantiomeric excess. Heating this acid with diphenylphosphoryl azide followed by 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol gave protected (R)-2-methylcysteine. Alternately, the acid and ester groups were interchanged and heated with diphenylphosphoryl azide followed by 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol, giving protected (S)-2-methylcysteine.