Discovery of an orally bioavailable alkyl oxadiazole beta3 adrenergic receptor agonist

Recent Developments in the Synthesis, Chemistry and Applications of the Fully Unsaturated 1,2,4-Oxadiazoles

Recent major developments in the synthesis (including solid phase methodologies), chemistry and applications of the fully unsaturated 1,2,4-oxadiazole nucleus are reviewed. The review covers the years 1995–2000.

Synthesis of novel 1,2,4-oxadiazoles and analogues as potential anticancer agents

A library of 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles 7-9 and their bioisosters, 1,3,4-oxadiazole 14 and 1,3,4-thiadiazole 16, were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their anticancer potential against a panel of six human cancer cell lines. The key step in the synthesis of oxadiazoles 7-9 involve coupling of amidoxime 6 with an appropriate carboxylic acid followed by thermal cyclization. The bioisosteres, 1,3,4-oxadiazole 14 and 1,3,4-thiadiazole 16 were prepared from the reaction of a common precursor diacylhydrazine 13 with thionyl chloride and Lawesson's reagent, respectively. The anticancer studies on the synthesized compounds revealed that presence of a cyclopentyloxy or n-butyloxy on the C-3 aryl ring and piperdin-4-yl or trichloromethyl at the C-5 position of 1,2,4-oxadiazole is essential for good activity. In particular, 1,2,4-oxadiazole 7i and analogue 1,3,4-thiadiazole 16 exhibited significant activity against DU145 (IC(50): 9.3 μM) and MDA-MB-231 (IC(50): 9.2 μM) cell lines, respectively.

Comparative 3D QSAR study on β(1)-, β(2)-, and β(3)-adrenoceptor agonists

A quantitative structure–activity relationship study of tryptamine-based derivatives of β₁-, β₂-, and β₃-adrenoceptor agonists was conducted using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). Correlation coefficients (cross-validated r²) of 0.578, 0.595, and 0.558 were obtained for the three subtypes, respectively, in three different CoMFA models. All three CoMFA models have different steric and electrostatic contributions, implying different requirements inside the binding cavity. The CoMFA coefficient contour plots of the three models and comparisons among these plots provide clues regarding the main chemical features responsible for the biological activity variations and also result in predictions which correlate very well with the observed biological activity. Based on the analysis, a summary regeospecific description of the requirements for improving β-adrenoceptor subtype selectivity is given.

The discovery of drugs for obesity, the metabolic effects of leptin and variable receptor pharmacology: perspectives from beta3-adrenoceptor agonists

Although beta3-adrenoceptor (beta3AR) agonists have not become drugs for the treatment of obesity or diabetes, they offer perspectives on obesity drug discovery, the physiology of energy expenditure and receptor pharmacology. beta3AR agonists, some of which also stimulate other betaARs in humans, selectively stimulate fat oxidation in rodents and humans. This appears to be why they improve insulin sensitivity and reduce body fat whilst preserving lean body mass. Regulatory authorities ask that novel anti-obesity drugs improve insulin sensitivity and reduce mainly body fat. Drugs that act on different targets to stimulate fat oxidation may also offer these benefits. Stimulation of energy expenditure may be easy to detect only when the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Leptin resembles beta3AR agonists in that it increases fat oxidation, energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. This is partly because it raises sympathetic activity, but it may also promote fat oxidation by directly stimulating muscle leptin receptors. The beta1AR and beta2AR can, like the beta3AR, display atypical pharmacologies. Moreover, the beta3AR can display variable pharmacologies of its own, depending on the radioligand used in binding studies or the functional response measured. Studies on the beta3AR demonstrate both the difficulties of predicting the in vivo effects of agonist drugs from in vitro data and that there may be opportunities for identifying drugs that act at a single receptor but have different profiles in vivo.

A chemoenzymatic scalable route to optically active (R)-1-(pyridin-3-yl)-2-aminoethanol, valuable moiety of β3-adrenergic receptor agonists

Enantiomerically pure (R)-2-chloro-1-(pyridin-3-yl)ethanol has been prepared by kinetic resolution performed in the presence of Candida antarctica SP435-L lipase immobilized on a macroporous polyacrylate resin (Novozym 435). It was converted into (R)-1-(pyridin-3-yl)-2-aminoethanol, left-hand side of beta(3)-adrenergic receptor ligands.

CVT-4325: a potent fatty acid oxidation inhibitor with favorable oral bioavailability

New inhibitors of palmitoyl-CoA oxidation are based on the introduction of nitrogen heterocycles in the 'Western Portion' of the molecule. SAR studies led to the discovery of CVT-4325 (shown), a potent FOXi (IC50=380 nM rat mitochondria) with favorable PK properties (F=93%, t(1/2)=13.6h, dog).

Characterization of β3-adrenergic receptor: determination of pharmacophore and 3D QSAR model for β3 adrenergic receptor agonism

The beta3-adrenoreceptor (beta3-AR) has been shown to mediate various pharmacological and physiological effects such as lipolysis, thermogenesis, and intestinal smooth muscle relaxation. It also plays an important role in glucose homeostasis and energy balance. Molecular modeling studies were undertaken to develop predictive pharmacophoric hypothesis and 3D-QSAR model, which may explain variations in beta3-AR agonistic activity in terms of chemical features and physicochemical properties. The two softwares, CATALYST for pharmacophoric alignment and APEX-3D for 3D-QSAR modeling were used to establish the structure activity relationships for beta3-AR agonistic activity. Among the several statistically significant models, the selection of the best pharmacophore and 3D-QSAR model was based on its ability to estimate the activity of external test sets of similar and different structural types along with the reasonable consistency of the model with the limited information of the active site of beta3-AR. The final 3D-QSAR model was derived using the pharmacophoric alignments from the hypothesis which consisted of four chemical features: basic or positive ionizable feature on the nitrogen of the aryloxypropylamino group, two ring aromatic features corresponding to the phenyl ring of the phenoxide and the benzenesulphonamido groups and a hydrogen-bond donor (HBD) in the vicinity of the nitrogen atom of the benzenesulphonamido group with the most active molecule mapping in an energetically favorable extended conformation. This hypothesis was in agreement with the site directed mutagenesis studies on human beta3-AR and correlated well the observed and estimated activity both in, training and both the external test sets. It also mapped reasonably well to six beta3-AR agonists of different structural classes under clinical development and thus this hypothesis may have a universal applicability in providing a powerful template for virtual screening and also for designing new chemical entities (NCEs) as beta3-AR agonists.

Kinetics of novel competitive inhibitors of urease enzymes by a focused library of oxadiazoles/thiadiazoles and triazoles

Based on structure of the substrate of urease and for the purpose of designing pharmacophore models for urease inhibitors, which could be effective in physiological and pharmacological studies, a series of twenty-five 1,3,4-diazole-2(3H)-thiones-2(3H)-thiones, 1,3,4-diazoles-2(3H)-thiones, and 1,2,4-tri-3-thiones (OSNs) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for various kinetic parameters of urease inhibition. OSNs inhibited the activity of urease(s) in a concentration dependent fashion. Dixon as well as Lineweaver-Burk plots and their secondary replots indicated that the nature of inhibition was of pure competitive type for all the 25 compounds. 5-[4-(hydroxy)phenyl]-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2(3H)-thione was found to be the most active one with a Ki value of 2 microM. The Ki values were increased with an increase in substrate concentrations. Apparently, OSNs employ a homologous mechanism of action by exploiting a common transition catalysis state and acting as ligand chelators to form octahedral complexes with the urease enzymes in an orientation-specific mode. The inhibition was slightly potentiated by lower pH and not abolished in the presence of NH2OH (a scavenger of histidine residue). Because of their safe profile in the genotoxic assay, they may be pursued in the near future for human testing

Development of 3D-QSAR models in cyclic ureidobenzenesulfonamides: human beta3-adrenergic receptor agonist

Pharmacophoric mapping based on 3D-QSAR studies is performed on sixteen cyclic ureidobenzenesulfonamides for their beta(3)-adrenergic receptor agonistic activity. The best 3D-QSAR model (with r(2)=0.877) which described the properties and distributions of 5-biophoric and 2-secondary biophoric sites, showed a good correlation between the observed and predicted activity both in training and test.

The pharmacokinetics of a thiazole benzenesulfonamide beta 3-adrenergic receptor agonist and its analogs in rats, dogs, and monkeys: improving oral bioavailability

The pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability of (R)-N-[4-[2-[[2-hydroxy-2-(pyridin-3-yl)ethyl]amino]ethyl]phenyl]-4-[4-[4-(trifluoromethylphenyl]thiazol-2-yl]benzenesulfonamide (1), a 3-pyridyl thiazole benzenesulfonamide beta3-adrenergic receptor agonist, were investigated in rats, dogs, and monkeys. Systemic clearance was higher in rats (approximately 30 ml/min/kg) than in dogs and monkeys (both approximately 10 ml/min/kg), and oral bioavailability was 17, 27, and 4%, respectively. Since systemic clearance was 25 to 40% of hepatic blood flow in these species, hepatic extraction was expected to be low, and it was likely that oral bioavailability was limited either by absorption or a large first-pass effect in the gut. The absorption and excretion of 3H-labeled 1 were investigated in rats, and only 28% of the administered radioactivity was orally absorbed. Subsequently, the hepatic extraction of 1 was evaluated in rats (30%) and monkeys (47%). The low oral bioavailability in rats could be explained completely by poor oral absorption and hepatic first-pass metabolism; in monkeys, oral absorption was either less than in rats or first-pass extraction in the gut was greater. In an attempt to increase oral exposure, the pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability of two potential prodrugs of 1, an N-ethyl [(R)-N-[4-[2-[ethyl[2-hydroxy-2-(3-pyridinyl)ethyl]amino]ethyl]phenyl]-4-[4-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]thiazol-2-yl]benzenesulfonamide; 2] and a morpholine derivative [(R)-N-[4-[2-[2-(3-pyridinyl)morpholin-4-yl]ethyl]phenyl]-4-[4-[4-(trifluoromethyl)- phenyl]thiazol-2-yl]benzenesulfonamide; 3], were evaluated in monkeys. Conversion to 1 was low (<3%) with both derivatives, and neither entity was an effective prodrug, but the oral bioavailability of 3 (56%) compared with 1 (4%) was significantly improved. The hypothesis that the increased oral bioavailability of 3 was due to a reduction in hydrogen bonding sites in the molecule led to the design of (R)-N-[4-[2-[[2-hydroxy-2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethyl]amino]ethyl]phenyl]-4-[4-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl)thiazol-2-yl]benzenesulfonamide (4), a 2-pyridyl beta3-adrenergic receptor agonist with improved oral bioavailability in rats and monkeys.

Synthesis and SAR of benzyl and phenoxymethylene oxadiazole benzenesulfonamides as selective beta3 adrenergic receptor agonist antiobesity agents

Benzyl and phenoxymethylene substituted oxadiazoles are potent and orally bioavailable beta3 adrenergic receptor (AR) agonists. The 4-trifluormethoxy substituted 5-benzyl oxadiazole 5f has an EC50 of 8 nM in the beta3 AR agonist assay with 100-fold selectivity over beta1 and beta2 AR binding inhibition activity. Its oral bioavailability in dogs is 30 +/- 4%, with a half-life of 3.8 +/- 0.4 h. In the anesthetized rhesus, 5f evoked a dose-dependent glycerolemia (ED50Gly = 0.15 mg/kg). Under these conditions a heart rate increase of 15% was observed at a dose level of 10 mg/kg.