Anthranilic sulfonamide CCK1/CCK2 dual receptor antagonists II: Tuning of receptor selectivity and in vivo efficacy

A new one-pot synthesis of pseudopeptide connected to sulfonamide via the tandem N-sulfonylation/Ugi reactions

In this study, an efficient one-pot reaction is reported for the synthesis of a new class of pseudopeptide connected to sulfonamide via a tandem N-sulfonylation/Ugi four-component reaction (Ugi-4CR) strategy under mild conditions in high yields.

Fluorinated phenylalanines: synthesis and pharmaceutical applications

Recent advances in the chemistry of peptides containing fluorinated phenylalanines (Phe) represents a hot topic in drug research over the last few decades. ᴅ- or ʟ-fluorinated phenylalanines have had considerable industrial and pharmaceutical applications and they have been expanded also to play an important role as potential enzyme inhibitors as well as therapeutic agents and topography imaging of tumor ecosystems using PET. Incorporation of fluorinated aromatic amino acids into proteins increases their catabolic stability especially in therapeutic proteins and peptide-based vaccines. This review seeks to summarize the different synthetic approaches in the literature to prepare ᴅ- or ʟ-fluorinated phenylalanines and their pharmaceutical applications with a focus on published synthetic methods that introduce fluorine into the phenyl, the β-carbon or the α-carbon of ᴅ-or ʟ-phenylalanines.

P-Stereogenic N-Phosphine-Phosphite Ligands for the Rh-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Olefins

We have identified a successful family of simple P-stereogenic N-phosphine-phosphite ligands for the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of olefins. These catalysts show excellent enantiocontrol for α-dehydroamino acid derivatives and α-enamides (ee's up to >99%) and promising results for the more challenging β-analogues (ee's up to 80%). The usefulness of these catalytic systems was further demonstrated with the synthesis of several valuable precursors for pharmacologically active compounds, with ee's at least as high as the best ones reported previously (up to >99%).

Applications of fluorine-containing amino acids for drug design

Fluorine-containing amino acids are becoming increasingly prominent in new drugs due to two general trends in the modern pharmaceutical industry. Firstly, the growing acceptance of peptides and modified peptides as drugs; and secondly, fluorine editing has become a prevalent protocol in drug-candidate optimization. Accordingly, fluorine-containing amino acids represent one of the more promising and rapidly developing areas of research in organic, bio-organic and medicinal chemistry. The goal of this Review article is to highlight the current state-of-the-art in this area by profiling 42 selected compounds that combine fluorine and amino acid structural elements. The compounds under discussion represent pharmaceutical drugs currently on the market, or in clinical trials as well as examples of drug-candidates that although withdrawn from development had a significant impact on the progress of medicinal chemistry and/or provided a deeper understanding of the nature and mechanism of biological action. For each compound, we present features of biological activity, a brief history of the design principles and the development of the synthetic approach, focusing on the source of tailor-made amino acid structures and fluorination methods. General aspects of the medicinal chemistry of fluorine-containing amino acids and synthetic methodology are briefly discussed.

Benzoselenadiazole-based responsive long-lifetime photoluminescent probes for protein kinases

Benzoselenadiazole was used as a novel scaffold for construction of microsecond scale responsive photoluminescent probes for protein kinases.

Rhodium-catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation as a valuable synthetic tool for the preparation of chiral drugs

During the last few decades, rhodium-catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation of diverse alkene classes has emerged as a powerful synthetic tool in the pharmaceutical industry, contributing to the manufacturing of chiral drugs, recent drug candidates for clinical trials, and major synthetic precursors of drugs. Numerous efficient chiral rhodium complexes, most of which are derived from enantiopure phosphorus ligands, have been employed for the preparation of chiral drugs and intermediates thereof. This review article is intended to provide an updated overview of the most striking contributions in this field, organised according to substrate class: acrylate derivatives, itaconate derivatives, α-substituted enamides, α-arylenol acetates, and minimally functionalised olefins.

Toward the identification of a reliable 3D QSAR pharmacophore model for the CCK2 receptor antagonism

The present study describes application of computational approaches to identify a validated and reliable 3D QSAR pharmacophore model for the CCK-2R antagonism through integrated ligand and structure based studies using anthranilic sulfonamide and 1,3,4-benzotriazepine based CCK-2R antagonists. The best hypothesis consisted five features viz. two aliphatic hydrophobic, one aromatic hydrophobic, one H-bond acceptor, and one ring aromatic feature with an excellent correlation for 34 training set (r²(training) = 0.83) and 58 test set compounds (r²(test) = 0.74). This model was validated through F-test and docking studies at the active site of the plausible CCK-2R where the 99% significance and well corroboration with the pharmacophore model respectively describes the model's reliability. The model also predicts well to other known clinically effective CCK-2R antagonists. Therefore, the developed model may useful in finding new scaffolds that may aid in design and develop new chemical entities (NCEs) as potent CCK-2R antagonists before their synthesis.