Jesús Alcázar

Recent applications of microwave irradiation to medicinal chemistry

The demands made on the pharmaceutical industry are changing at an unprecedented pace, making modern drug discovery dependent on high speed organic synthesis. Over the last few years, different technologies have been introduced in medicinal chemistry laboratories in order to improve their productivity. Microwave-assisted organic synthesis is proving to be instrumental in the rapid synthesis of compounds with new and improved biological activities. This review highlights the application of this approach as a way to explore analogue synthesis in medicinal chemistry over the last 3 years. We describe a number of examples taken from the literature that are related to various targets within different therapeutic areas. Clearly microwave irradiation is becoming a fundamental tool for optimizing key steps in the synthesis of target compounds within the field of drug discovery.

Preparation of amides mediated by isopropylmagnesium chloride under continuous flow conditions

A safe, green and functional-group-tolerant flow version of the direct amide bond formation mediated by Grignard reagents (the Bodroux reaction) is described. The procedure can be applied to a wide variety of primary and secondary amines and anilines, as well as to aromatic and aliphatic esters. The flow approach leads to improved yields and selectivities in the reaction, which has a sustainable purification procedure and a simple scale-up. This reaction represents an efficient and green alternative to the use of alkylaluminium and metal-catalyzed procedures.

First Example of Alkyl–Aryl Negishi Cross-Coupling in Flow: Mild, Efficient and Clean Introduction of Functionalized Alkyl Groups

The first example of an alkyl-aryl Negishi coupling in a practical, sustainable, and high-yielding process using a silica-supported catalyst in flow is described. Excellent conversions and good functional group compatibility were obtained under very mild conditions. Functionalized alkyl groups were also introduced to provide access to synthetically useful molecules and to demonstrate the versatility of the method. The scalability was assessed, and a throughput of 7.5 mmol/h of processed substrate was achieved. All crude products were free from phosphine derivatives and ready for use in subsequent reaction steps.

Novel methyl substituted 1-(5,6-dihydro-(1,2,4)triazolo (4,3-a)pyrazin-7(8H)-yl)methanones are P2X7 antagonists

The optimization efforts that led to a novel series of methyl substituted 1-(5,6-dihydro-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl)methanones that are potent rat and human P2X7 antagonists are described. These efforts resulted in the discovery of compounds with good drug-like properties that are capable of high P2X7 receptor occupancy in rat following oral administration, including compounds 7n (P2X7 IC50 = 7.7 nM) and 7u (P2X7 IC50 =7 .7 nM). These compounds are expected to be useful tools for characterizing the effects of P2X7 antagonism in models of depression and epilepsy, and several of the compounds prepared are candidates for effective P2X7 PET tracers.

Microwave Assisted Medicinal Chemistry

Microwave irradiation has been used to enhance organic reactions since the mid 80s, its use within the field of medicinal chemistry is not so widely evident in the literature. The present review highlights the use of microwave chemistry as an important tool for the fast development of structure activity relationship in several programs related to various therapeutic areas.

Comparison of New Tau PET-Tracer Candidates With [18F]T808 and [18F]T807

Early clinical results of two tau tracers, [18F]T808 and [18F]T807, have recently been reported. In the present study, the biodistribution, radiometabolite quantification, and competition-binding studies were performed in order to acquire comparative preclinical data as well as to establish the value of T808 and T807 as benchmark compounds for assessment of binding affinities of eight new/other tau tracers. Biodistribution studies in mice showed high brain uptake and fast washout. In vivo radiometabolite analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography showed the presence of polar radiometabolites in plasma and brain. No specific binding of [18F]T808 was found in transgenic mice expressing mutant human P301L tau. In semiquantitative autoradiography studies on human Alzheimer disease slices, we observed more than 50% tau selective blocking of [18F]T808 in the presence of 1 µmol/L of the novel ligands. This study provides a straightforward comparison of the binding affinity and selectivity for tau of the reported radiolabeled tracers BF-158, BF-170, THK5105, lansoprazole, astemizole, and novel tau positron emission tomography ligands against T807 and T808. Therefore, these data are helpful to identify structural requirements for selective interaction with tau and to compare the performance of new highly selective and specific radiolabeled tau tracers.

Reproducibility and Scalability of Solvent-Free Microwave-Assisted Reactions:From Domestic Ovens to Controllable Parallel Applications

The heating of different parallel arrays in domestic ovens offers the possibility to perform multiple reactions in one irradiation experiment, blending the advantages of microwave heating technology and parallel chemistry. However, they are usually performed without an appropriate temperature control; thus, reproducibility becomes a major issue limiting the application of such reactions. This is exemplified when working at a different scales or using different instruments. For the first time a typical solvent-free reaction described in a domestic oven has been reproduced in monomode reactor, scaled up in a controlled multimode oven and reproduced in parallel, 24 reactions were carried out in a well plate. Parallel reactions were performed in a Weflon multiwell plate to assure identical conditions for each individual reaction. As many reactions under microwave irradiation have been performed in solvent-free conditions, this result opens new possibilities in reproducibility, scalability and combinatorial chemistry and permits to take advantage of many synthetic procedures described in domestic ovens.

First Example of a Continuous-Flow Carbonylation Reaction Using Aryl Formates as CO Precursors

The first continuous flow carbonylation reaction using aryl formates as CO precursor is reported. The reaction is practical, scalable and high yielding. The use of a flow protocol safely allows expanding the scope to activated chlorides, nitrogen heterocycles and to the selective introduction of an ester group in dihalo-derivatives. Further selective reduction of the ester formed to an aldehyde in flow is also described.

Influence of polarity on the scalability and reproducibility of solvent-free microwave-assisted reactions.

Organic reactions performed in the absence of solvent in domestic ovens without appropriate temperature control are generally considered as not reproducible, particularly when different instruments are used. For this reason, reproducibility has historically been one of the major issues associated with Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS) especially when domestic ovens are involved. The lack of reproducibility limits the general applicability and the scale up of these reactions. In this work several solvent-free reactions previously carried out in domestic ovens have been translated into a single-mode microwave reactor and then scaled up in a multimode oven. The results show that most of these reactions, although not considered as reproducible, can be easily updated and applied in microwave reactors using temperature-controlled conditions. Furthermore, computational calculations can assist to explain and/or predict whether a reaction will be reproducible or not.

Reformatsky and Blaise reactions in flow as a tool for drug discovery. One pot diversity oriented synthesis of valuable intermediates and heterocycles

The application of Reformatsky and Blaise reactions for the preparation of a diverse set of valuable intermediates and heterocycles in a one-pot protocol is described. To achieve this goal, a greener activation protocol for zinc in flow conditions has been developed to introduce this metal efficiently into α-bromoacetates. The organozinc compounds were added to a diverse set of ketones and nitriles to obtain a wide range of functional groups and heterocyclic systems.