AbstractThe NK1 receptor (NK1R) is a molecular target for both approved and experimental drugs intended for a variety of conditions, including emesis, pain, and cancers. While contemplating modifications to the typical NK1R pharmacophore, we wondered whether the CF3 groups common for many NK1R ligands, could be replaced with some other moiety. Our attention was drawn by the SF5 group, and so we designed, synthesized, and tested ten novel SF5‐containing compounds for NK1R affinity. All analogues exhibit detectable NK1R binding, with the best of them, compound 5 a, (3‐bromo‐5‐(pentafluoro‐λ6‐sulfanyl)benzyl acetyl‐L‐tryptophanate) binding only slightly worse (IC50=34.3 nM) than the approved NK1R‐targeting drug, aprepitant (IC50=27.7 nM). Molecular docking provided structural explanation of SAR. According to our analysis, the SF5 group in our compounds occupies a position similar to that of one of the CF3 groups of aprepitant as found in the crystal structure. Additionally, we checked whether the docking scoring function or energies derived from Fragment Molecular Orbital quantum chemical calculations may be helpful in explaining and predicting the experimental receptor affinities for our analogues. Both these methods produce moderately good results. Overall, this is the first demonstration of the utility of the SF5 group in the design of NK1R ligands.
摘要NK1受体(NK1R)是已获批准和实验性药物的分子靶点,这些药物可用于治疗各种疾病,包括呃逆、疼痛和癌症。在考虑对典型的 NK1R 药理结构进行修改时,我们想知道是否可以用其他分子取代许多 NK1R 配体中常见的 CF3 基团。于是我们设计、合成并测试了十种含 SF5 的新型化合物的 NK1R 亲和力。所有类似物都表现出了可检测到的 NK1R 结合力,其中最好的化合物 5 a(3-溴-5-(五氟-λ6-硫酰)苄基乙酰-L-色氨酸)的结合力(IC50=34.3 nM)仅略低于已批准的 NK1R 靶向药物阿瑞匹坦(IC50=27.7 nM)。分子对接为 SAR 提供了结构性解释。根据我们的分析,我们化合物中的 SF5 基团占据的位置与晶体结构中发现的阿瑞匹坦的 CF3 基团之一相似。此外,我们还检查了对接评分函数或片段分子轨道量子化学计算得出的能量是否有助于解释和预测我们的类似物的实验受体亲和力。这两种方法都得出了中等偏上的结果。总之,这是 SF5 组在 NK1R 配体设计中的首次应用。