Hydrophobic interactions enzyme inhibitors

Kim CU, Lew W, Wilhams MA, Liu H, Zhang L, Swaminathan S, Bischofberger N, Chen MS, Mendel DB, Tai CY, Laver WG, Stevens RC (1997) Influenza neuraminidase inhibitors possessing a novel hydrophobic interaction in the enzyme active site design, synthesis, and structural analysis of carbocyclic sialic acid analogues with potent anti-influenza activity. J Am Chem Soc 119 681-690... 

As we have just seen, the initial encounter complex between an enzyme and its substrate is characterized by a reversible equilibrium between the binary complex and the free forms of enzyme and substrate. Hence the binary complex is stabilized through a variety of noncovalent interactions between the substrate and enzyme molecules. Likewise the majority of pharmacologically relevant enzyme inhibitors, which we will encounter in subsequent chapters, bind to their enzyme targets through a combination of noncovalent interactions. Some of the more important of these noncovalent forces for interactions between proteins (e.g., enzymes) and ligands (e.g., substrates, cofactors, and reversible inhibitors) include electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic forces, and van der Waals forces (Copeland, 2000). 

Among its inhibitors are methotrexate (MTX), trimethoprim, and other derivatives of pyrimidines, triazines, pteridines, and related heterocyclic compounds. Some of these inhibitors, such as MTX, bind more tightly to Escherichia coli enzyme than does the substrate dihydrofolate. This fact has been attributed to ion-pair formation between protonated MTX and a negative carboxyl, presumably Asp-27, as well as to hydrophobic interactions.33... 

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