A twist in the tale: Recent reports have highlighted solutions to the problems encountered when drug candidates exist as slowly interconverting conformers or atropisomers (see scheme). This Minireview brings together the various strategies that have been adopted and proposes a general approach to handling an aspect of stereochemistry which has received little attention from drug regulatory agencies.

The Challenge of Atropisomerism in Drug Discovery

Assessing Atropisomer Axial Chirality in Drug Discovery and Development Steven R. LaPlante,* Lee D. Fader, Keith R. Fandrick, Daniel R. Fandrick, Oliver Hucke, Ray Kemper, Stephen P. F. Miller, and Paul J. Edwards* Department of Chemistry, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., 2100 Cunard Street, Laval, Quebec, H7S 2G5, Canada Chemical Development, Non-Clinical Drug Safety, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceutical Inc., 900 Ridgebury Road, Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877, United States Office of New Drug Quality Assessment, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Building 22, Room 1446, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993, United States

Assessing Atropisomer Axial Chirality in Drug Discovery and Development

Ibuprofen is a chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) of the 2 arylpropionic acid (2-APA) class. A common structural feature of 2-APANSAIDs is a sp3-hybridised tetrahedral chiral carbon atom within the propionic acid side chain moiety with the S-(+)-enantiomer possessing most of the beneficial anti-inflammatory activity. Ibuprofen demonstrates marked stereoselectivity in its pharmacokinetics. Substantial unidirectional inversion of the R-(-) to the S-(+) enantiomer occurs and thus, data generated using nonstereospecific assays may not be extrapolated to explain the disposition of the individual enantiomers. The absorption of ibuprofen is rapid and complete when given orally. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) of ibuprofen is dose-dependent. Ibuprofen binds extensively, in a concentration-dependent manner, to plasma albumin. At doses greater than 600mg there is an increase in the unbound fraction of the drug, leading to an increased clearance of ibuprofen and a reduced AUC of the total drug. Substantial concentrations of ibuprofen are attained in synovial fluid, which is a proposed site of action for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Ibuprofen is eliminated following biotransformation to glucuronide conjugate metabolites that are excreted in urine, with little of the drug being eliminated unchanged. The excretion of conjugates may be tied to renal function and the accumulation of conjugates occurs in end-stage renal disease. Hepatic disease and cystic fibrosis can alter the disposition kinetics of ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is not excreted in substantial concentrations into breast milk. Significant drug interactions have been demonstrated for aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid), cholestyramine and methotrexate. A relationship between ibuprofen plasma concentrations and analgesic and antipyretic effects has been elucidated.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of ibuprofen. The first 30 years

Atropisomerie als Herausforderung in der Medikamentenentwicklung

The (R)- and (S)-isomers of α-methyl-branched fatty acids were shown to be rapidly interconverted as coenzyme A thioesters, by an α-methylacyl-CoA racemase. The enzyme was purified some 5600-fold from rat liver, to apparent homogeneity. It is a monomer of 45 kDa with an isolectric point of pH 6.1 and is optimally active between pH 6 and pH 7. It acts only on coenzyme A thioesters, not on free fatty acids, and accepts as substrates a wide range of α-methylacyl-CoAs, including pristanoyl-CoA and trihydroxycoprostanoyl-CoA (an intermediate in bile acid synthesis), but neither 3-methyl-branched nor linear-chain acyl-CoAs. The racemase catalyzes a rapid exchange of the H atom in the α-position of the fatty acid against a proton from water, indicating that the mechanism involves abstraction of a proton. Based on this observation, a very sensitive and convenient radiometric assay, with 2-methyl[2-3H]acyl-CoAs as substrates, was developed. The enzyme was inactivated by micromolar concentrations of Hg2+ and to a lesser extent by Cu2+ but not by iodoacetamide and only slightly by N-ethylmaleimide and thimerosal.

https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1432-1033.1994.tb18870.x

Purification and properties of an alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase from rat liver.

http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstream/246246/173009/1/04.pdf

Pei-Heng Lu

Papers

Metabolic stereoisomeric inversion of ibuprofen in mammals.