A significant proportion of pharmaceuticals are fluorinated and selecting the site of fluorine incorporation can be an important beneficial part a drug development process. Here we describe initial experiments aimed at the development of a general method of selecting optimum sites on pro-drug molecules for fluorination, so that metabolic stability may be improved. Several model biphenyl derivatives were transformed by the fungus Cunninghamella elegans and the bacterium Streptomyces griseus, both of which contain cytochromes P450 that mimic oxidation processes in vivo, so that the site of oxidation could be determined. Subsequently, fluorinated biphenyl derivatives were synthesised using appropriate Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions, positioning the fluorine atom at the pre-determined site of microbial oxidation; the fluorinated biphenyl derivatives were incubated with the microorganisms and the degree of oxidation assessed. Biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid was transformed completely to 4′-hydroxybiphenyl-4-carboxylic acid by C. elegans but, in contrast, the 4′-fluoro-analogue remained untransformed exemplifying the microbial oxidation – chemical fluorination concept. 2′-Fluoro- and 3′-fluoro-biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid were also transformed, but more slowly than the non-fluorinated biphenyl carboxylic acid derivative. Thus, it is possible to design compounds in an iterative fashion with a longer metabolic half-life by identifying the sites that are most easily oxidised by in vitro methods and subsequent fluorination without recourse to extensive animal studies.
大部分药物含有
氟元素,在药物开发过程中,选择
氟元素的加入位置可能是一个有益的环节。在这里,我们描述了初始实验,旨在开发一种通用方法,选择前药分子上最佳的
氟化位置,以提高代谢稳定性。通过含有细胞色素P450的真菌和细菌分别对几种
联苯衍
生物进行转化,这些细胞色素P450模拟了体内的氧化过程,从而确定了氧化位置。随后,利用适当的铃木-宫浦偶联反应合成了
氟化
联苯衍
生物,将
氟原子置于预定微
生物氧化的位置;这些
氟化
联苯衍
生物与微
生物共培养,并评估了氧化程度。结果显示,
联苯-4-
羧酸被Cunninghamella elegans完全转化为4′-羟基
联苯-4-
羧酸,但4′-
氟代衍
生物保持不变,证明了微
生物氧化-
化学氟化的概念。2′-
氟代和3′-
氟代
联苯-4-
羧酸也能被转化,但速度比未
氟化的
联苯羧酸衍
生物慢。因此,可以通过体外方法确定最容易氧化的位置,然后进行
氟化,迭代设计代谢半衰期更长的化合物,无需依赖大量的动物研究。