Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of hydroxamic acid-substituted 2,4-diaryl aminopyrimidines as potent EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors for the treatment of NSCLC

Rational design and synthesis of 2,4-dichloro-6-methyl pyrimidine derivatives as potential selective EGFRT790M/L858R inhibitors for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

Many patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) initially benefit from epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) targeted therapy. Unfortunately, varying degrees of resistance or side effects eventually develop. Overcoming and preventing the resistance and side effects of EGFR inhibitors has become a hot topic of research today. Based on the previous studies on AZD-9291, we designed and synthesized two series of 2,4-dichloro-6-methylpyrimidine derivatives, 19 compounds in total, as potential inhibitors of the EGFR kinase. The most promising compound, L-18, showed better inhibitory activity (81.9%) and selectivity against EGFRT790M/L858R kinase. In addition, L-18 showed strong antiproliferative activity against H1975 cells with an IC50 value of 0.65 ± 0.06 μM and no toxicity to normal cells (LO-2). L-18 was able to dose-dependently induce the apoptosis of H1975 cells and produced a cell-cycle-blocking effect, and it can also dose-dependently inhibit the migration and invasion of H1975 cells. L-18 also showed in vivo anticancer efficacy in H1975 cells xenograft mice. We also performed a series of in vivo and in vitro toxicological evaluations of compound L-18, which did not cause obvious injury in mice during administration. These results suggest that L-18 may be a promising drug candidate that warrants further investigation.

An Overview of the Biological Evaluation of Selected Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycle Medicinal Chemistry Compounds

Heterocyclic compounds are a class of compounds of natural origin with favorable properties and hence have major pharmaceutical significance. They have an exceptional adroitness favoring their use as diverse smart biomimetics, in addition to possessing an active pharmacophore in a complex structure. This has made them an indispensable motif in the drug discovery field. Heterocyclic compounds are usually classified according to the ring size, type, and the number of heteroatoms present in the ring. Among different heterocyclic ring systems, nitrogen heterocyclic compounds are more abundant in nature. They also have considerable pharmacological significance. This review highlights recent pioneering studies in the biological assessment of nitrogen-containing compounds, namely: triazoles, tetrazoles, imidazole/benzimidazoles, pyrimidines, and quinolines. It explores publications between April 2020 and February 2022 and will benefit researchers in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. The present work is organized based on the size of the heterocyclic ring.

Synthesis and HDAC inhibitory activity of pyrimidine-based hydroxamic acids

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play an essential role in the transcriptional regulation of cells through the deacetylation of nuclear histone and non-histone proteins and are promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of various diseases. Here, the synthesis of new compounds in which a hydroxamic acid residue is attached to differently substituted pyrimidine rings via a methylene group bridge of varying length as potential HDAC inhibitors is described. The target compounds were obtained by alkylation of 2-(alkylthio)pyrimidin-4(3H)-ones with ethyl 2-bromoethanoate, ethyl 4-bromobutanoate, or methyl 6-bromohexanoate followed by aminolysis of the obtained esters with hydroxylamine. Oxidation of the 2-methylthio group to the methylsulfonyl group and following treatment with amines resulted in the formation of the corresponding 2-amino-substituted derivatives, the ester group of which reacted with hydroxylamine to give the corresponding hydroxamic acids. The synthesized hydroxamic acids were tested as inhibitors of the HDAC4 and HDAC8 isoforms. Among the synthesized pyrimidine-based hydroxamic acids N-hydroxy-6-[6-methyl-2-(methylthio)-5-propylpyrimidin-4-yloxy]hexanamide was found to be the most potent inhibitor of both the HDAC4 and HDAC8 isoforms, with an IC50 of 16.6 µM and 1.2 µM, respectively.