The free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFA1) has gained significant interest as a novel antidiabetic target. Most of FFA1 agonists reported in the literature bearing a common biphenyl scaffold, which was crucial for toxicity verified by the researchers of Daiichi Sankyo. Herein, we describe the systematic exploration of non-biphenyl scaffold and further chemical modification of the optimal pyrrole scaffold. All of these efforts led to the identification of compound 11 as a potent and orally bioavailable FFA1 agonist without the risk of hypoglycemia. Further molecular modeling studies promoted the understanding of ligand-binding pocket and might help to design more promising FFA1 agonists. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Discovery of phenylsulfonyl acetic acid derivatives with improved efficacy and safety as potent free fatty acid receptor 1 agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes
structure-activity relationship study based on the previleged scaffolds led to the discovery of 2-(4-[(2'-chloro-[1,1'-biphenyl]-3-yl)methoxy]phenyl)sulfonyl}acetic acid (compound 20), which showed a better balance than compound 2 in terms of physicochemicalproperties, cytotoxicity profiles and pharmacokinetic properties. Subsequent in vivo studies demonstrated that compound 20 robustly improves the