The design and synthesis of novel alpha-ketoamide-based p38 MAP kinase inhibitors

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic potential of OA-DHZ; a novel semisynthetic derivative of dehydrozingerone

Despite various advances in the arena of the current system of medicine, there are numerous side effects associated with the therapeutics which essentially demand research on the development of safer therapeutics. One way is to explore the bioactive plant secondary metabolites and their semisynthetic derivatives. In context to this, we analyzed OA-DHZ, a dehydrozingerone derivative as the later has been reported to show anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. OA-DHZ was found to be having promising anti-inflammatory and analgesic potential. OA-DHZ was found to inhibit the carrageenan-induced edema and leukocyte migration, acetic acid-induced increase in vascular permeability and lipopolysaccharide-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. Meanwhile, it was also found to potentially inhibit thermally as well as chemically induced pain signifying its analgesic/nociceptive potential. Further, safety pharmacology studies using in vivo animal models for the central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, the cardio-respiratory system suggest that optimum functioning of vital organ systems does not get altered after single oral administration. Also, the acute toxicity study revealed its nontoxic nature up to 2000 mg/kg. This study paves the way for future exploration and development of OA-DHZ based on its potent activity and nontoxic nature.

Pyridazinone: an attractive lead for anti-inflammatory and analgesic drug discovery

In spite of the availability of a large number of anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents, fighting pain and inflammation remains a common problem. The current review article discusses the need of novel therapeutic targets for risk-free anti-inflammatory and analgesic therapy and summarizes some new agents in various stages of drug discovery pipeline. Pyridazin-3(2H)-ones are nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds of considerable medicinal interest due to their diverse biological activities. The current review article focuses on progressive development of this attractive scaffold for the design and synthesis of new pyridazinone-based anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents. Mechanistic insights into the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of pyridazinone derivatives and various synthetic techniques used for their synthesis are also described.

Arylidene pyruvic acids motif in the synthesis of new thiopyrano[2,3-d]thiazoles as potential biologically active compounds

Novel

Harnessing allostery: a novel approach to drug discovery

Allostery is the most direct and efficient way for regulation of biological macromolecule function, ranging from the control of metabolic mechanisms to signal transduction pathways. Allosteric modulators target to allosteric sites, offering distinct advantages compared to orthosteric ligands that target to active sites, such as greater specificity, reduced side effects, and lower toxicity. Allosteric modulators have therefore drawn increasing attention as potential therapeutic drugs in the design and development of new drugs. In recent years, advancements in our understanding of the fundamental principles underlying allostery, coupled with the exploitation of powerful techniques and methods in the field of allostery, provide unprecedented opportunities to discover allosteric proteins, detect and characterize allosteric sites, design and develop novel efficient allosteric drugs, and recapitulate the universal features of allosteric proteins and allosteric modulators. In the present review, we summarize the recent advances in the repertoire of allostery, with a particular focus on the aforementioned allosteric compounds.

Microwave irradiation: synthesis and characterization of α-ketoamide and bis (α-ketoamide) derivatives via the ring opening of N-acetylisatin

Background

The carbonyl group at position 2 of N-acetylisatin behaves as an amide which is more susceptible to nucleophilic attack via ring-opening in the presence of nucleophiles. Because of this behavior, in the present work we describe the microwave synthesis of a series of α-ketoamide and bis-(α-ketoamide) derivatives via the facile ring-opening of N-acylisatin with different amines and diamines. The microwave irradiation afforded the product in less reaction time, higher yield and purity. Reaction of N-acylisatin with methanol under microwave irradiation afforded the α-phenylglyoxyl methyl ester derivatives with excellent yields and purities. Aminolysis of the ester derivatives with piperidine and morpholine afforded the same α-ketoamide derivatives obtained from direct aminolysis of N-acylisatin. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by FT-IR, NMR, X-ray and elemental analysis.

Results

Reaction of N-acetylisatin and N-propoionylsatin with different amines and diamines afforded a series of α-ketoamide and bis-(α-ketoamide) derivatives respectively via the ring opening of N-acylisatins. The reaction was performed under conventional condition as well as microwave irradiation. The microwave irradiation afforded the product in less reaction time, higher yield and purity. Reaction of N-acylisatin with methanol under microwave irradiation afforded the α-phenylglyoxyl methyl ester derivatives in excellent yields and purities as observed from their spectral data. A plausible mechanism involves nucleophilic attack by methanol at C2 carbonyl carbon of N-acetylisatin and subsequent ring opening to generate the α-ketoester. Aminolysis of α-ketoester with amine afforded the same α-ketoamide which is obtained by direct aminolysis of N-acylisatin. The IR, NMR spectra, microanalyses, and single crystal X-ray diffraction confirmed the structures of the synthesized compounds.

Conclusions

In conclusion, we have demonstrated that microwave irradiation could be employed efficiently for the synthesis of biologically important α-ketoamide and bis-(α-ketoamide) derivatives. The microwave irradiation has more advantageous over the classical method with regard to reaction time, solvent quantity, and product yield. Reaction of N-acylisatin with methanol under microwave irradiation afforded the α-phenylglyoxyl methyl ester derivatives with excellent yields and purities. Aminolysis of the methyl ester derivatives with amine under microwave irradiation afford the same α-ketoamide derivatives as obtained from direct aminolysis of N-acylisatins.

OxymaPure/DIC: an efficient reagent for the synthesis of a novel series of 4-[2-(2-acetylaminophenyl)-2-oxo-acetylamino] benzoyl amino acid ester derivatives

OxymaPure (ethyl 2-cyano-2-(hydroxyimino)acetate) was tested as an additive for use in the carbodiimide (DIC) approach for the synthesis of a novel series of α-ketoamide derivatives (4-[2-(2-acetylaminophenyl)-2-oxo-acetylamino]benzoyl amino acid ester derivatives). OxymaPure showed clear superiority to HOBt/DIC or carbodiimide alone in terms of purity and yield. The title compounds were synthesized via the ring opening of N-acylisatin. First, N-acetylisatin was reacted with 4-aminobenzoic acid under conventional heating as well as microwave irradiation to afford 4-(2-(2-acetamidophenyl)-2-oxoacetamido)benzoic acid. This α-ketoamide was coupled to different amino acid esters using OxymaPure/DIC as a coupling reagent to afford 4-[2-(2-acetylaminophenyl)-2-oxo-acetylamino]benzoyl amino acid ester derivatives in excellent yield and purity. The synthesized compounds were characterized using FT-IR, NMR, and elemental analysis.

An Efficient and Mild Method for the Synthesis and Hydrazinolysis ofN-Glyoxylamino Acid Esters

N-Glyoxylamino acid ester derivatives were synthesized via the ring opening ofN-acetylisatin using moderate conditions. During the hydrazinolysis ofN-glyoxylamino acid ester derivatives with hydrazine hydrate (80%) in methanol, unexpected reduction of theα-keto group occurred to affordN-acylamino acid hydrazide derivatives in good yield (80–90%) (Wolff-Kishner type reaction). All the synthesized compounds were characterized by1H NMR,13C NMR, and elemental microanalysis.

Virtual screening filters for the design of type II p38 MAP kinase inhibitors: a fragment based library generation approach

In this work, we introduce the development and application of a three-step scoring and filtering procedure for the design of type II p38 MAP kinase leads using allosteric fragments extracted from virtual screening hits. The design of the virtual screening filters is based on a thorough evaluation of docking methods, DFG-loop conformation, binding interactions and chemotype specificity of the 138 p38 MAP kinase inhibitors from Protein Data Bank bound to DFG-in and DFG-out conformations using Glide, GOLD and CDOCKER. A 40 ns molecular dynamics simulation with the apo, type I with DFG-in and type II with DFG-out forms was carried out to delineate the effects of structural variations on inhibitor binding. The designed docking-score and sub-structure filters were first tested on a dataset of 249 potent p38 MAP kinase inhibitors from seven diverse series and 18,842 kinase inhibitors from PDB, to gauge their capacity to discriminate between kinase and non-kinase inhibitors and likewise to selectively filter-in target-specific inhibitors. The designed filters were then applied in the virtual screening of a database of ten million (10⁷) compounds resulting in the identification of 100 hits. Based on their binding modes, 98 allosteric fragments were extracted from the hits and a fragment library was generated. New type II p38 MAP kinase leads were designed by tailoring the existing type I ATP site binders with allosteric fragments using a common urea linker. Target specific virtual screening filters can thus be easily developed for other kinases based on this strategy to retrieve target selective compounds.

P38 MAPK signaling pathway: biological functions, roles in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis and common research methods

The activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) are the key events in hepatic fibrogenesis. Now the research about the mechanisms of action of HSC-related signal transduction has become a hot topic. This article reviews the biological functions of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway and its roles in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis and summarizes common research methods for this signaling pathway.

Therapeutic approaches for tumor necrosis factor inhibition

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) consists of an inflammatory cytokine essential for homeostasis and organism defense. Despite its physiological relevance, both increased biosynthesis and release of TNF lead to the exacerbation of inflammatory and oxidative responses, which are related to the pathogenesis of a host of diseases of an inflammatory, autoimmune and/or infectious nature. In this context, effective therapeutic approaches for the modulation of TNF have been the focus of research efforts. Approximately one million individuals worldwide have been treated with biotechnological inhibitors of this cytokine, the so-called anti-TNF biopharmaceuticals. However, given the high risk of infection and the limitations related to cost and administration routes, new therapeutic approaches aimed at biological targets that directly or indirectly modulate the production and/or activation of TNF appear promising alternatives for the discovery of new anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory orally active drugs and are therefore discussed in this paper.

'Reverse' alpha-ketoamide-based p38 MAP kinase inhibitors

We have identified a second series of potent p38 inhibitors. As with our first generation series, these compounds are based on an alpha-ketoamide scaffold. The reversal of the ketoamide order, however, introduces more chemical flexibility and in addition results in improve potencies against p38.

Allosteric regulation and catalysis emerge via a common route

Allosteric regulation of protein function is a mechanism by which an event in one place of a protein structure causes an effect at another site, much like the behavior of a telecommunications network in which a collection of transmitters, receivers and transceivers communicate with each other across long distances. For example, ligand binding or an amino acid mutation at an allosteric site can alter enzymatic activity or binding affinity in a distal region such as the active site or a second binding site. The mechanism of this site-to-site communication is of great interest, especially since allosteric effects must be considered in drug design and protein engineering. In this review, conformational mobility as the common route between allosteric regulation and catalysis is discussed. We summarize recent experimental data and the resulting insights into allostery within proteins, and we discuss the nature of future studies and the new applications that may result from increased understanding of this regulatory mechanism.