Iain M. McLay

DIVERSITY PROFILING AND DESIGN USING 3D PHARMACOPHORES : PHARMACOPHORE-DERIVED QUERIES (PDQ)

The current interest in combinatorial chemistry for lead generation has necessitated the development of methods for design and evaluation of the diversity of the resultant compound libraries. Such methods also have application in selecting diverse sets of compounds for general screening from corporate databases and in the analysis of large sets of structures to identify common patterns. In this paper we describe a novel methodology for calculating diversity and identifying common features based on the three-point pharmacophores expressed by a compound.1 The method has been implemented within the environment of the Chem-X molecular modeling package (ChemDBS-3D), using a systematic analysis of 3D distance space with three point combinations of six pharmacophoric groups. The strategy used to define the pharmacophores is discussed, including an in-house developed atom type parameterization. The method is compared with the related approach being developed into the ChemDiverse module of Chem-X. Results from an ...

Enhancing the Hit-to-Lead Properties of Lead Optimization Libraries†

In this paper we address several issues in the design of lead optimization libraries. Multipharmacophore descriptors were first developed in the context of designing diverse compound libraries. One reason for favoring such descriptors is the importance of the pharmacophore hypothesis in understanding the interaction of a compound with a protein target. Allied to this is the proposal that sampling over all potential pharmacophores leads to diversity in a biologically relevant space. We present results in support of this argument and also demonstrate that such methods are applicable to the design of focused libraries where the aim is to design the library toward a known lead or leads. This portability is important because it means that the same descriptors can be used for diverse library design, screening set selection, and focused library design, giving a consistent approach. We also examine the question of designing libraries with improved pharmacokinetic properties and show that it is possible to derive simple and rapidly computable descriptors applicable to the prediction of drug transport properties. Furthermore, these can be applied in the context of library design, although it may be necessary to synthesize libraries in a noncombinatorial manner to obtain the best results. To address this problem, we describe a Monte Carlo search procedure that allows the selection of a near-combinatorial subset in which all library members satisfy the design criteria. We present an example from our own work that illustrates how consideration of calculated log P, molecular weight, and polar surface area in the design of a combinatorial library can lead to compounds with improved absorption characteristics as determined by experimental Caco-2 measurements.

Synthesis and Structure−Activity Relationships of Long-acting β2 Adrenergic Receptor Agonists Incorporating Metabolic Inactivation: An Antedrug Approach

A series of saligenin beta(2) adrenoceptor agonist antedrugs having high clearance were prepared by reacting a protected saligenin oxazolidinone with protected hydroxyethoxyalkoxyalkyl bromides, followed by removal of the hydroxy-protecting group, alkylation, and final deprotection. The compounds were screened for beta(2), beta(1), and beta(3) agonist activity in CHO cells. The onset and duration of action in vitro of selected compounds were assessed on isolated superfused guinea pig trachea. Compound 13f had high potency, selectivity, fast onset, and long duration of action in vitro and was found to have long duration in vivo, low oral bioavailability in the rat, and to be rapidly metabolized. Crystalline salts of 13f (vilanterol) were identified that had suitable properties for inhaled administration. A proposed binding mode for 13f to the beta(2)-receptor is presented.

Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationships of Long-acting β2 Adrenergic Receptor Agonists Incorporating Arylsulfonamide Groups

A series of saligenin alkoxyalkylphenylsulfonamide beta(2) adrenoceptor agonists were prepared by reacting a protected saligenin oxazolidinone with alkynyloxyalkyl bromides, followed by Sonogashira reaction, hydrogenation, and deprotection. The meta-substituted primary sulfonamide was more potent than the para- and the ortho-analogues. Primary sulfonamides were more potent than the secondary and tertiary analogues. The onset and duration of action in vitro of selected compounds was assessed on isolated superfused guinea pig trachea. Sulfonamide 29b had the best profile of potency, selectivity, onset, and duration of action on both guinea pig trachea and human bronchus. Furthermore, 29b was found to have low oral bioavailability in rat and dog and also to have long duration of action in an in vivo model of bronchodilation. Crystalline salts of 29b were identified that had suitable properties for inhaled administration. A proposed binding mode for 29b to the beta(2)-receptor is presented.

A refined model for prediction of hydrogen bond acidity and basicity parameters from quantum chemical molecular descriptors

Abrahams H-bonding parameters alpha and beta have been described in terms of a minimal set of readily obtainable molecular descriptors. These parameters are basically equilibrium constants for complexation of acids with a reference base (alpha) or bases with a reference acid (beta) measured in a non-hydrogen bonding solvent such as tetrachloromethane. The models were developed using partial least squares with a diverse dataset recently compiled by Platts et al., encompassing a wide range of hydrogen bond acids and bases in order to give a robust model. Although less accurate than the model of Platts et al. the descriptors used in this work avoid expensive supermolecule calculations, and allow prediction of hydrogen bonding characteristics from the isolated molecular wave function. These descriptors can then be generated for a large number of compounds, making them ideal for storage in a quantum isostere database (QID), the construction of which we initiated. The QID is a web-based tool developed to predict bioisosteric replacements in lead optimisation projects. The current descriptors provide hydrogen bonding characteristics of molecules of interest.

Analysis of neighborhood behavior in lead optimization and array design

Neighborhood behavior describes the extent to which small structural changes defined by a molecular descriptor are likely to lead to small property changes. This study evaluates two methods for the quantification of neighborhood behavior: the optimal diagonal method of Patterson et al. and the optimality criterion method of Horvath and Jeandenans. The methods are evaluated using twelve different types of fingerprint (both 2D and 3D) with screening data derived from several lead optimization projects at GlaxoSmithKline. The principal focus of the work is the design of chemical arrays during lead optimization, and the study hence considers not only biological activity but also important drug properties such as metabolic stability, permeability, and lipophilicity. Evidence is provided to suggest that the optimality criterion method may provide a better quantitative description of neighborhood behavior than the optimal diagonal method.

Aryl aminopyrazole benzamides as oral non-steroidal selective glucocorticoid receptor agonists.

Aryl aminopyrazole amides capped with N-alkylbenzamides 13-16 are selective glucocorticoid receptor agonists. 2,6-Disubstituted benzamides have prednisolone-like potency or better in vitro. Good oral exposure was demonstrated in the rat, with compounds with lower lipophilicity, for example N-hydroxyethyl benzamides (e.g., 16e).

Toward an ab initio fragment database for bioisosterism: Dependence of QCT properties on level of theory, conformation, and chemical environment

The goal of this work is to assess the scope and suitability of atomic and bond properties for use in a bioisostere fragment database. This database will contain fragment descriptors that can be used to represent portions of larger molecules and similarity in properties between fragments, which will then be used to find bioisosteric replacements in future work. Seventeen common organic fragments relevant to drug design featured as “linker groups” that were capped by two terminal groups. Each terminal group could be one of the set of 12 possible sets: 10 aromatic heterocycles, a phenyl ring, or an ethyl. This enabled a systematic investigation of the chemical environment, enriched with conformational flexibility within the linker group, for a total of 307 different atoms. Five different levels of theory were investigated. This work paves the way to the construction of a quantum mechanical bioisosteric fragment database, for which transferability of stored fragment properties is of fundamental importance.

Retrospective docking study of PDE4B ligands and an analysis of the behavior of selected scoring functions

Scoring forms a major obstacle to the success of any docking study. In general, fast scoring functions perform poorly when used to determine the relative affinity of ligands for their receptors. In this study, the objective was not to rank compounds with confidence but simply to identify a scoring method which could provide a 4-fold hit enrichment in a screening sample over random selection. To this end, LigandFit, a fast shape matching docking algorithm, was used to dock a variety of known inhibitors of type 4 phosphodiesterase (PDE4B) into its binding site determined crystallographically for a series of pyrazolopyridine inhibitors. The success of identifying good poses with this technique was explored through RMSD comparisons with 19 known inhibitors for which crystallographic structures were available. The effectiveness of five scoring functions (PMF, JAIN, PLP2, LigScore2, and DockScore) was then evaluated through consideration of the success in enriching the top ranked fractions of nine artificial databases, constructed by seeding 1980 inactive ligands (pIC50 < 5) with 20 randomly selected inhibitors (pIC50 > 6.5). PMF and JAIN showed high average enrichment factors (greater than 4 times) in the top 5-10% of the ranked databases. Rank-based consensus scoring was then investigated, and the rational combination of 3 scoring functions resulted in more robust scoring schemes with (cScore)-DPmJ (consensus score of DockScore, PMF, and JAIN) and (cScore)-PPmJ (PLP2, PMF, and JAIN) yielding particularly good results. These cScores are believed to be of greater general application. Finally, the analysis of the behavior of the scoring functions across different chemotypes uncovered the inherent bias of the docking and scoring toward compounds in the same structural family as that employed for the crystal structure, suggesting the need to use multiple versions of the binding site for more successful virtual screening strategies.

The discovery of potent and long-acting oral factor Xa inhibitors with tetrahydroisoquinoline and benzazepine P4 motifs.

The discovery and evaluation of potent and long-acting oral sulfonamidopyrrolidin-2-one factor Xa inhibitors with tetrahydroisoquinoline and benzazepine P4 motifs are described. Unexpected selectivity issues versus tissue plasminogen activator in the former series were addressed in the later, delivering a robust candidate for progression towards clinical studies.