Lead medicinal chemistry

Esters of tropine have a venerable place in medicinal chemistry. One such compound, cocaine, the object of some current interest, was the natural product lead which led eventually to most of today s local anesthetics. A distantly related analogue is prepared by reaction of tropine (132) with 3,5-dimethylbenzoyl chloride. This leads to an ester structurally related to another ]ii ominent natural product, atropine (133). The product, tropanaerin (134), is described as an iinti.serotonergic agent intended for antimigraine use [34]. 

Medicinal chemistry has frequently drawn inspiration and important new leads from the examination of natural products, and this was proven to be the case once more. In 1992, researchers at Merck and Glaxo announced, almost simultaneously, the independent discovery of the same new class of natural products from two different fungi. As a consequence, the same family of natural products has two names - the zaragozic acids (Merck)4 or the squalestatins (Glaxo).5 A typical member of the family, zaragozic acid A (squa-lestatin SI) (1) was shown to have a tremendous affinity for squalene synthase (K, = 79 pM for rat microsomal squalene synthase) and could even lower serum cholesterol levels in vivo in a population of marmosets.6... 

In the 1990s the technique of solid-phase organic synthesis (SPOS) became generally popular, but especially in the medicinal chemistry community, for lead detection and lead optimization via combinatorial techniques. The combination with microwave irradiation brought an elegant solution for the problem of the notoriously slower reactions compared to those in solution phase. 

P. W., Hoffman, R. Catalyst pharmacophore models and their utility as queries for searching 3D databases. In Computer-Assisted Lead Finding and Optimization - Current Tools for Medicinal Chemistry, Van de Waterbeemd, H., Testa, B Folkers, G. (eds.),VHCA, Basel, 1990,... 

Many of these unwanted functionalities have been collected based on chemists feedback from hit identification and lead optimization projects, and by looking at compounds not considered good starting points for optimization by medicinal chemistry or difficult to synthesize [35]. However, one could say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and selecting attractive chemical starting points depends upon the experience and prejudice of individual chemists. An interesting study at Pharmacia in which 13 chemists reviewed about 22000 compounds in a compound acquisition program showed that medicinal chemists were inconsistent in the compounds they reject [36]. Furthermore, it was found that individual medicinal chemists do not consistently reject the same compound. 

Although most of the medicinal chemistry effort in the H3 receptor field has been focused on the development of antagonists, there is some interest in agonists as well. Histamine H3 receptor agonists decrease the release of histamine in the central and peripheral nervous system and lead to a weakened histaminergic tone. In the brain, their effects will therefore be comparable to those of Hi receptor antagonists, with sedation and induction of sleep as a prominent observation. Indeed, H3 agonists such as the imidazoles... 

Fig. I The desired attributes of a lead molecule. Often, molecules identified by any screening strategy might satisfy optimal criteria for only a subset of these attributes and most laboratories would proceed with a medicinal chemistry campaign banking on improving the rest in a subsequent lead optimization phase...

Gillespie P, Goodnow RA Jr (2004) The hit-to-lead process in drug discovery. In Doherty A (ed) Annual reports in medicinal chemistry. Elsevier, Oxford, p 293... 

The editors have chosen topics from both important therapeutic areas and from work that advances the discipline of medicinal chemistry. For example, cancer, metabolic syndrome and Alzheimer s disease are fields in which academia and industry are heavily invested to discover new drugs because of their considerable unmet medical need. The editors have therefore prioritized covering new developments in medicinal chemistry in these fields. In addition, important advances in the discipline, such as fragment-based drug design and other aspects of new lead-seeking approaches, are also planned for early volumes in this series. Each volume thus offers a unique opportunity to capture the most up-to-date perspective in an area of medicinal chemistry. 

Baum, R. M., Combinatorial approaches provide fresh leads for medicinal chemistry, Chem. Eng. News 20-26 (Feb. 7 1994). 

Today, multi-parallel synthesis lies at the forefront of organic and medicinal chemistry, and plays a major role in lead discovery and lead optimization programs in the pharmaceutical industry. The first solid-phase domino reactions were developed by Tietze and coworkers [6] using a domino Knoevenagel/hetero-Diels-Alder and a domino Knoevenagel/ene protocol. Reaction of solid-phase bound 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds such as 10-22 with aldehydes and enol ethers in the presence of piperidinium acetate led to the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene 10-23, which underwent an intermolecular hetero-Diels-Alder reaction with the enol ethers to give the resin-bound products 10-24. Solvolysis with NaOMe afforded the desired dihydro-pyranes, 10-25 with over 90 % purity. Ene reactions have also been performed in a similar manner [7]. 

Aqueous solubility, potency and permeability are three factors under medicinal chemistry control that must be optimized to achieve a compound with acceptable oral absorption. Typically, a lead (chemistry starting point) is deficient in all three parameters. The inter-relationships of these three parameters has been described in a series of publications from Pfizer researchers [7, 8]. Figure 9.1 depicts graphically the minimum acceptable solubility as a function of projected clinical potency and intestinal permeability. A minimum thermodynamic aqueous solubility of 52... 

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