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Journal ArticleDOI

Target-oriented and diversity-oriented organic synthesis in drug discovery.

17 Mar 2000-Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)-Vol. 287, Iss: 5460, pp 1964-1969
TL;DR: Several synthetic planning principles for diversity-oriented synthesis and their role in the drug discovery process are presented in this review.
Abstract: Modern drug discovery often involves screening small molecules for their ability to bind to a preselected protein target. Target-oriented syntheses of these small molecules, individually or as collections (focused libraries), can be planned effectively with retrosynthetic analysis. Drug discovery can also involve screening small molecules for their ability to modulate a biological pathway in cells or organisms, without regard for any particular protein target. This process is likely to benefit in the future from an evolving forward analysis of synthetic pathways, used in diversity-oriented synthesis, that leads to structurally complex and diverse small molecules. One goal of diversity-oriented syntheses is to synthesize efficiently a collection of small molecules capable of perturbing any disease-related biological pathway, leading eventually to the identification of therapeutic protein targets capable of being modulated by small molecules. Several synthetic planning principles for diversity-oriented synthesis and their role in the drug discovery process are presented in this review.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: MCRs and especially MCRs with isocyanides offer many opportunities to attain new reactions and basic structures, however, this requires that the chemist learns the "language" of M CRs, something that this review wishes to stimulate.
Abstract: Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) are fundamentally different from two-component reactions in several aspects. Among the MCRs, those with isocyanides have developed into popular organic-chemical reactions in the pharmaceutical industry for the preparation of compound libraries of low-molecular druglike compounds. With a small set of starting materials, very large libraries can be built up within a short time, which can then be used for research on medicinal substances. Due to the intensive research of the last few years, many new backbone types have become accessible. MCRs are also increasingly being employed in the total synthesis of natural products. MCRs and especially MCRs with isocyanides offer many opportunities to attain new reactions and basic structures. However, this requires that the chemist learns the “language” of MCRs, something that this review wishes to stimulate.

3,619 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that saturation correlates with solubility, an experimental physical property important to success in the drug discovery setting, and both complexity and the presence of chiral centers correlate with success as compounds transition from discovery, through clinical testing, to drugs.
Abstract: The medicinal chemistry community has become increasingly aware of the value of tracking calculated physical properties such as molecular weight, topological polar surface area, rotatable bonds, and hydrogen bond donors and acceptors. We hypothesized that the shift to high-throughput synthetic practices over the past decade may be another factor that may predispose molecules to fail by steering discovery efforts toward achiral, aromatic compounds. We have proposed two simple and interpretable measures of the complexity of molecules prepared as potential drug candidates. The first is carbon bond saturation as defined by fraction sp3 (Fsp3) where Fsp3 = (number of sp3 hybridized carbons/total carbon count). The second is simply whether a chiral carbon exists in the molecule. We demonstrate that both complexity (as measured by Fsp3) and the presence of chiral centers correlate with success as compounds transition from discovery, through clinical testing, to drugs. In an attempt to explain these observations,...

2,396 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The 3,3'-pyrrolidinyl-spirooxindole unit is a privileged heterocyclic motif that forms the core of a large family of alkaloid natural products with strong bioactivity profiles and interesting structural properties.
Abstract: The 3,3'-pyrrolidinyl-spirooxindole unit is a privileged heterocyclic motif that forms the core of a large family of alkaloid natural products with strong bioactivity profiles and interesting structural properties. Significant recent advances in the synthesis of this fused heterocyclic system have led to intense interest in the development of related compounds as potential medicinal agents or biological probes.

2,010 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Three-dimensional pharmacophore models are constructed, which are sufficiently selective to identify the described binding mode and are thus a useful tool for in-silico screening of large compound databases.
Abstract: From the historically grown archive of protein−ligand complexes in the Protein Data Bank small organic ligands are extracted and interpreted in terms of their chemical characteristics and features. Subsequently, pharmacophores representing ligand−receptor interaction are derived from each of these small molecules and its surrounding amino acids. Based on a defined set of only six types of chemical features and volume constraints, three-dimensional pharmacophore models are constructed, which are sufficiently selective to identify the described binding mode and are thus a useful tool for in-silico screening of large compound databases. The algorithms for ligand extraction and interpretation as well as the pharmacophore creation technique from the automatically interpreted data are presented and applied to a rhinovirus capsid complex as application example.

1,480 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Asymmetric multicomponent reactions involve the preparation of chiral compounds by the reaction of three or more reagents added simultaneously and has some advantages over classic divergent reaction strategies, such as lower costs, time, and energy, as well as environmentally friendlier aspects.
Abstract: Asymmetric multicomponent reactions involve the preparation of chiral compounds by the reaction of three or more reagents added simultaneously. This kind of addition and reaction has some advantages over classic divergent reaction strategies, such as lower costs, time, and energy, as well as environmentally friendlier aspects. All these advantages, together with the high level of stereoselectivity attained in some of these reactions, will force chemists in industry as in academia to adopt this new strategy of synthesis, or at least to consider it as a viable option. The positive aspects as well as the drawbacks of this strategy are discussed in this Review.

1,479 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 1992-Nature
TL;DR: The simple methodology greatly enhances the production and rapid evaluation of random libraries of millions of peptides so that acceptor-binding ligands of high affinity can be rapidly identified and sequenced, on the basis of a "one-bead, one-peptide9 approach.
Abstract: OUR aim was to improve techniques for drug development by facilitating the identification of small molecules that bind with high affinity to acceptor molecules (for example, cell-surface receptors, enzymes, antibodies) and so to mimic or block their interaction with the natural ligand1,2. Previously such small molecules have been characterized individually on a serial basis. The systematic synthesis and screening of peptide libraries of defined structure represents a new approach. For relatively small libraries, predetermined sequence variations on solid-phase supports have been used3,4, and large libraries have been produced using a bacteriophage vector into which random oligodeoxynucleotide sequences have been introduced5–8, but these techniques have severe limitations. Here we investigate an alternative approach to synthesis and screening of peptide libraries. Our simple methodology greatly enhances the production and rapid evaluation of random libraries of millions of peptides so that acceptor-binding ligands of high affinity can be rapidly identified and sequenced, on the basis of a "one-bead, one-peptide9 approach.

2,037 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Through examination of the binding of these analogs to monoclonal antibodies raised against residues 75-110 of HA1, it was found that a single amino acid, aspartic acid at position 101, is of unique importance to the interaction.
Abstract: A novel yet simple method is described that facilitates the synthesis of large numbers of peptides to the extent that the synthesis process need no longer be the limiting factor in many studies involving peptides. By using the methods described, 10-20 mg of 248 different 13-residue peptides representing single amino acid variants of a segment of the hemagglutinin protein (HA1) have been prepared and characterized in less than 4 weeks. Through examination of the binding of these analogs to monoclonal antibodies raised against residues 75-110 of HA1, it was found that a single amino acid, aspartic acid at position 101, is of unique importance to the interaction. Two other residues, aspartic acid-104 and alanine-106, were found to play a lesser but significant role in the binding interaction. Other single positional residue variations appear to be of little or no importance.

1,805 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It was found that the leucine residues at positions 148 and 151 were essential for reaction with antisera raised against intact virus, and may lead to better understanding of the basis of antigen-antibody interaction and antibody specificity.
Abstract: A procedure is described for rapid concurrent synthesis on solid supports of hundreds of peptides, of sufficient purity to react in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Interaction of synthesized peptides with antibodies is then easily detected without removing them from the support. In this manner an immunogenic epitope of the immunologically important coat protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus (type O1) is located with a resolution of seven amino acids, corresponding to amino acids 146-152 of that protein. Then, a complete replacement set of peptides in which all 20 amino acids were substituted in turn at every position within the epitope was synthesized, and the particular amino acids conferring specificity for the reaction with antibody were determined. It was found that the leucine residues at positions 148 and 151 were essential for reaction with antisera raised against intact virus. A lesser contribution was derived from the glutamine and alanine residues at positions 149 and 152, respectively. Aside from the practical significance for locating and examining epitopes at high resolution, these findings may lead to better understanding of the basis of antigen-antibody interaction and antibody specificity.

1,634 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
29 Oct 1999-Science
TL;DR: In vitro, monastrol specifically inhibited the motility of the mitotic kinesin Eg5, a motor protein required for spindle bipolarity, and will therefore be a particularly useful tool for studying mitotic mechanisms.
Abstract: Small molecules that perturb specific protein functions are valuable tools for dissecting complex processes in mammalian cells. A combination of two phenotype-based screens, one based on a specific posttranslational modification, the other visualizing microtubules and chromatin, was used to identify compounds that affect mitosis. One compound, here named monastrol, arrested mammalian cells in mitosis with monopolar spindles. In vitro, monastrol specifically inhibited the motility of the mitotic kinesin Eg5, a motor protein required for spindle bipolarity. All previously known small molecules that specifically affect the mitotic machinery target tubulin. Monastrol will therefore be a particularly useful tool for studying mitotic mechanisms.

1,629 citations