New insight into adenosine receptors selectivity derived from a novel series of [5-substituted-4-phenyl-1,3-thiazol-2-yl] benzamides and furamides

SARS-CoV-2 Mpro binding profile and drug-likeness of two novel thiazole derivatives: structural elucidation, DFT studies, ADME-T and molecular docking simulations

Two novel thiazole derivatives, ethyl 5-((4-fluorophenyl)carbamoyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylate (2b) and ethyl 5-(p-tolylcarbamoyl)thiazole-4-carboxylate (6b) have been synthesized, and their crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction. To rationalize their structure, reactivity and druggability, we have performed a series of separate, but complementary studies. Hirshfeld surface and 2D-fingerprint plots were first scrutinized to qualitatively unveil all the intermolecular interactions that ensure their crystal packing. Moreover, topological electron density parameters established from the quantum theory of atoms-in-molecules (QTAIM) and Reduced Density Gradient (RDG) were later relied on to characterize the chemical bonding of these species, in terms of the nature and magnitude of noncovalent interactions developed within their monomeric and dimeric forms. In both structures, C-H…O hydrogen bonds are found to be stronger than other noncovalent interactions. Furthermore, H…H bonding contacts and non-conventional C-H…O hydrogen bonds both exhibit a closed shell nature, and play in crucial role in the stability of the novel thiazoles. The isosurfaces in the intermolecular region furnished by NCI molecular diagram signifies the existence of weak noncovalent interactions. Finally, the potential inhibitory activity of the titled compounds and their drug-likeness are demonstrated by molecular docking and ADME-T calculations respectively. Both compounds adhere to the Lipinski's rule of five and present encouraging pharmacokinetic properties and safety profiles.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Thiazole: A Versatile Standalone Moiety Contributing to the Development of Various Drugs and Biologically Active Agents

For many decades, the thiazole moiety has been an important heterocycle in the world of chemistry. The thiazole ring consists of sulfur and nitrogen in such a fashion that the pi (π) electrons are free to move from one bond to other bonds rendering aromatic ring properties. On account of its aromaticity, the ring has many reactive positions where donor–acceptor, nucleophilic, oxidation reactions, etc., may take place. Molecules containing a thiazole ring, when entering physiological systems, behave unpredictably and reset the system differently. These molecules may activate/stop the biochemical pathways and enzymes or stimulate/block the receptors in the biological systems. Therefore, medicinal chemists have been focusing their efforts on thiazole-bearing compounds in order to develop novel therapeutic agents for a variety of pathological conditions. This review attempts to inform the readers on three major classes of thiazole-bearing molecules: Thiazoles as treatment drugs, thiazoles in clinical trials, and thiazoles in preclinical and developmental stages. A compilation of preclinical and developmental thiazole-bearing molecules is presented, focusing on their brief synthetic description and preclinical studies relating to structure-based activity analysis. The authors expect that the current review may succeed in drawing the attention of medicinal chemists to finding new leads, which may later be translated into new drugs.

Selective A3 Adenosine Receptor Antagonist Radioligand for Human and Rodent Species

The A₃ adenosine receptor (A₃AR) is a target for pain, ischemia, and inflammatory disease therapy. Among the ligand tools available are selective agonists and antagonists, including radioligands, but most high-affinity non-nucleoside antagonists are limited in selectivity to primate species. We have explored the structure-activity relationship of a previously reported A₃AR antagonist DPTN 9 (N-[4-(3,5-dimethylphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)-1,3-thiazol-2-yl]nicotinamide) for radiolabeling, including 3-halo derivatives (3-iodo, MRS7907), and characterized 9 as a high -affinity radioligand [³H]MRS7799. A₃AR K _d values were (nM): 0.55 (human), 3.74 (mouse), and 2.80 (rat). An extended methyl acrylate (MRS8074, 19) maintained higher affinity (18.9 nM) than a 3-((5-chlorothiophen-2-yl)ethynyl) derivative 20. Compound 9 had an excellent brain distribution in rats (brain/plasma ratio ∼1). Receptor docking predicted its orthosteric site binding by engaging residues that were previously found to be essential for AR binding. Thus the new radioligand promises to be a useful species-general antagonist tracer for receptor characterization and drug discovery.

Regioselective synthesis of 2,5- and 4,5-disubstituted thiazoles via cyclization of 2-oxo-2-(amino)ethanedithioates with isocyanides

The regioselective synthesis of 2-(methylthio)-N-aryl/alkylthiazole-5-carboxamides and ethyl-5-(aryl/alkyl carbamoyl)thiazole-4-carboxylates by base induced cyclization of methyl-2-oxo-2-(amino)ethanedithioates with TosMIC and ethylisocyanoacetate respectively in high yield. The regioisomeric product was confirmed by X-ray diffraction...

Palladium-Metalated Porous Organic Polymers as Recyclable Catalysts for the Chemioselective Synthesis of Thiazoles from Thiobenzamides and Isonitriles

Two types of thiazole derivatives are synthesized through a multistep cascade sequence with Pd-metalated phosphorus-doped porous organic polymers (POPs) as heterogeneous catalysts. The POPs could be used as both ligands and catalyst supports. No obvious aggregation and loss of any catalytic activity of the catalysts were observed after 10 runs of the reaction. More importantly, imidazo[4,5- d]thiazoles, which are a new class of thiazole derivatives, could be obtained through K₂CO₃-promoted intramolecular cyclization of the synthesized polysubstituted thiazoles. Furthermore, the in vitro anticancer activity of these new compounds were tested with MTT assay, and compound 4b exhibited good antitumor activity toward T-24 and A549 cells with IC₅₀ values of 10.3 ± 0.8 and 11.8 ± 0.5 μM, respectively. In addition, the action mechanism of 4b on tumor cells was determined.

Discovery of 2-aminoimidazole and 2-amino imidazolyl-thiazoles as non-xanthine human adenosine A3 receptor antagonists: SAR and molecular modeling studies

A small-molecule combinatorial library of 24 compounds with 2-aminoimidazole and 2-aminoimidazolyl-thiazole derivatives was synthesized using a 2-chloro trityl resin. The generated compound library was tested against all the human adenosine receptors subtypes. The 2-aminoimidazole derivatives (6a-6l) showed weak to moderate affinity towards the human adenosine receptors. Further modification to 2-aminoimidazolyl-thiazole derivatives (12a-12l) resulted in an improvement of affinity at adenosine A₁, A_2A and A₃ receptor subtypes. Compound 12b was the most potent and selective non-xanthine human adenosine A₃ receptor antagonist of this series. A receptor-based modeling study was performed to explore the possible binding mode of these novel 2-aminoimidazole and 2-aminoimidazolyl-thiazole derivatives into human adenosine A₁, A_2A and A₃ receptor subtypes.

Efficient construction of C–N and C–S bonds in 2-iminothiazoles via cascade reaction of enaminones with potassium thiocyanate

Regioselective cascade reactions have been developed by using enaminones and potassium thiocyanate, offering a novel protocol for the synthesis of thiazoles from enaminones.

Selective Access to 4-Substituted 2-Aminothiazoles and 4-Substituted 5-Thiocyano-2-aminothiazoles from Vinyl Azides and Potassium Thiocyanate Switched by Palladium and Iron Catalysts

A highly selective construction of 4-substituted 2-aminothiazoles and 4-substituted 5-thiocyano-2-aminothiazoles, respectively, catalyzed by palladium(II) acetate and promoted by iron(III) bromide from vinyl azides and potassium thiocyanate has been developed. Use of readily available starting materials, high selectivity, as well as mild reaction conditions make this practical method particularly attractive.

Inhibitors of membranous adenylyl cyclases with affinity for adenosine receptors

Membrane-bound adenylyl cyclases constitute an interesting therapeutic target for various diseases that affect a large number of patients including asthma or congestive heart failure. Many inhibitors of adenylyl cyclases are competitive inhibitors at the ATP binding site and may, therefore, also interact with one or several of numerous ATP-binding proteins other than adenylyl cyclases. Several such inhibitors also show structural similarity to adenosine receptor ligands, providing a risk for side effects mediated by an unwanted interaction with these receptors. We have investigated a potential specific binding of four representative adenylyl cyclase inhibitors and found binding with pharmacologically relevant affinity to A1 and A2A receptors for NKY80 (2-amino-7-(2-furanyl)-7,8-dihydro-5(6H)-quinazolinone) and SQ22,536 (9-(tetrahydro-2-furanyl)-9H-purin-6-amine). These results underscore the importance to consider potential side effects mediated via adenosine receptors in the development of potent and specific inhibitors of adenylyl cyclases.

Novel thiazole-thiophene conjugates as adenosine receptor antagonists: synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies

Here we report novel thiazole-thiophene conjugates as adenosine receptor antagonists. All the molecules were evaluated for their binding affinity for adenosine receptors. Most of the molecules were found to interact with the A1, A2A and A3 adenosine receptor subtypes with good affinity values. The most potent and selective compound 8n showed an A3Ki value of 0.33μM with selectivity ratios of >90 versus the A1 and >30 versus the A2 subtypes. For compound 8n docking studies into the binding site of the A3 adenosine receptor are provided to visualize its binding mode.

Thiazole: a promising heterocycle for the development of potent CNS active agents

Thiazole is a valuable scaffold in the field of medicinal chemistry and has accounted to display a variety of biological activities. Thiazole and its derivatives have attracted continuing interest to design various novel CNS active agents. In the past few decades, thiazoles have been widely used to develop a variety of therapeutic agents against numerous CNS targets. Thiazole containing drug molecules are currently being used in treatment of various CNS disorders and a number of thiazole derivatives are also presently in clinical trials. A lot of research has been carried out on thiazole and their analogues, which has proved their efficacy to overcome several CNS disorders in rodent as well as primate models. The aim of present review is to highlights diverse CNS activities displayed by thiazole and their derivatives. SAR of this nucleus has also been well discussed. This review covers the recent updates present in literature and will surely provide a greater insight for the designing and development of potent thiazole based CNS active agents in future.

Perturbation of fluid dynamics properties of water molecules during G protein-coupled receptor-ligand recognition: the human A2A adenosine receptor as a key study

Recent advances in structural biology revealed that water molecules play a crucial structural role in the protein architecture and ligand binding of G protein-coupled receptors. In this work, we present an alternative approach to monitor the time-dependent organization of water molecules during the final stage of the ligand-receptor recognition process by means of membrane molecular dynamics simulations. We inspect the variation of fluid dynamics properties of water molecules upon ligand binding with the aim to correlate the results with the binding affinities. The outcomes of this analysis are transferred into a bidimensional graph called water fluid dynamics maps, that allow a fast graphical identification of protein "hot-spots" characterized by peculiar shape and electrostatic properties that can play a critical role in ligand binding. We hopefully believe that the proposed approach might represent a valuable tool for structure-based drug discovery that can be extended to cases where crystal structures are not yet available, or have not been solved at high resolution.

Structure-based drug design for G protein-coupled receptors

Our understanding of the structural biology of G protein-coupled receptors has undergone a transformation over the past 5 years. New protein-ligand complexes are described almost monthly in high profile journals. Appreciation of how small molecules and natural ligands bind to their receptors has the potential to impact enormously how medicinal chemists approach this major class of receptor targets. An outline of the key topics in this field and some recent examples of structure- and fragment-based drug design are described. A table is presented with example views of each G protein-coupled receptor for which there is a published X-ray structure, including interactions with small molecule antagonists, partial and full agonists. The possible implications of these new data for drug design are discussed.

Insight into the interactions between novel coumarin derivatives and human A3 adenosine receptors

A study focused on the discovery of new chemical entities based on the 3-arylcoumarin scaffold was performed with the aim of finding new adenosine receptor (AR) ligands. Thirteen synthesized compounds were evaluated by radioligand binding (A1, A2A, and A3) and adenylyl cyclase activity (A2B) assays in order to study their affinity for the four human AR (hAR) subtypes. Seven of the studied compounds proved to be selective A3 AR ligands, with 3-(4'-methylphenyl)-8-(2-oxopropoxy)coumarin (12) being the most potent (Ki =634 nM). None of the compounds showed affinity for the A2B receptor, while four compounds were found to be nonselective AR ligands for the other three subtypes. Docking simulations were carried out to identify the hypothetical binding mode and to rationalize the interaction of these types of coumarin derivatives with the binding site of the three ARs to which binding was observed. The results allowed us to conclude that the 3-arylcoumarin scaffold composes a novel and promising class of A3 AR ligands. ADME properties were also calculated, with the results suggesting that these compounds are promising leads for the identification of new drug candidates.

Simulation and comparative analysis of binding modes of nucleoside and non-nucleoside agonists at the A2B adenosine receptor

PURPOSE

A2B receptor agonists are studied as possible therapeutic tools for a variety of pathological conditions. Unfortunately, medicinal chemistry efforts have led to the development of a limited number of potent agonists of this receptor, in most cases with a low or no selectivity versus the other adenosine receptor subtypes. Among the developed molecules, two structural families of compounds have been identified based on nucleoside and non-nucleoside (pyridine) scaffolds. The aim of this work is to analyse the binding mode of these molecules at 3D models of the human A2B receptor to identify possible common interaction features and the key receptor residues involved in ligand interaction.

METHODS

The A2B receptor models are built by using two recently published crystal structures of the human A2A receptor in complex with two different agonists. The developed models are used as targets for molecular docking studies of nucleoside and non-nucleoside agonists. The generated docking conformations are subjected to energy minimization and rescoring by using three different scoring functions. Further analysis of top-score conformations are performed with a tool evaluating the interaction energy between the ligand and the binding site residues.

RESULTS

Results suggest a set of common interaction points between the two structural families of agonists and the receptor binding site, as evidenced by the superimposition of docking conformations and by analysis of interaction energy with the receptor residues.

CONCLUSIONS

The obtained results show that there is a conserved pattern of interaction between the A2B receptor and its agonists. These information and can provide useful data to support the design and the development of A2B receptor agonists belonging to nucleoside or non-nucleoside structural families.

Implementing the "Best Template Searching" tool into Adenosiland platform

Background

Adenosine receptors (ARs) belong to the G protein-coupled receptors (GCPRs) family. The recent release of X-ray structures of the human A_2A AR (h A_2A AR ) in complex with agonists and antagonists has increased the application of structure-based drug design approaches to this class of receptors. Among them, homology modeling represents the method of choice to gather structural information on the other receptor subtypes, namely A₁, A_2B, and A₃ ARs. With the aim of helping users in the selection of either a template to build its own models or ARs homology models publicly available on our platform, we implemented our web-resource dedicated to ARs, Adenosiland, with the “Best Template Searching” facility. This tool is freely accessible at the following web address: http://mms.dsfarm.unipd.it/Adenosiland/ligand.php.

Findings

The template suggestions and homology models provided by the “Best Template Searching” tool are guided by the similarity of a query structure (putative or known ARs ligand) with all ligands co-crystallized with hA_2A AR subtype. The tool computes several similarity indexes and sort the outcoming results according to the index selected by the user.

Conclusions

We have implemented our web-resource dedicated to ARs Adenosiland with the “Best Template Searching” facility, a tool to guide template and models selection for hARs modelling. The underlying idea of our new facility, that is the selection of a template (or models built upon a template) whose co-crystallized ligand shares the highest similarity with the query structure, can be easily extended to other GPCRs.