Discovery of novel spiro[chromane-2,4'-piperidine] derivatives as potent and orally bioavailable G-protein-coupled receptor 119 agonists.

Herein, we describe the discovery, synthesis, and evaluation of a novel series of spiro[chromane-2,4'-piperidine] derivatives as G-protein-coupled receptor 119 agonists. Their initial design exploited the conformational restriction in the linker-to-tail moiety, which was a key concept in this study, to give lead compound 11 (EC = 369 nM, E = 82%). An extensive structure-activity relationship study resulted in the identification of the optimized drug candidate (R)-29 (EC = 54 nM, E = 181%).

Optimization of a novel series of potent and orally bioavailable GPR119 agonists.

We describe the discovery and optimization of a novel series of furo[3,2-d]pyrimidines as G protein-coupled receptor 119 agonists. Agonistic activity of 4 (EC=129nM) was improved by replacing the intramolecular hydrogen bond between the fluorine atom and the aniline hydrogen in the head moiety with a covalent C-C bond to enhance conformational restriction, which consequently gave a lead compound 12 (EC=53nM). Optimized compound 26, which was identified by the further optimization of 12, exhibited potent activity (EC=42nM) with improved clearance in liver microsomes and induced a 33% reduction in blood glucose area under the curve at a dose of 10mg/kg in an oral glucose tolerance test in C57BL/6N mice.

Discovery of a 2-hydroxyacetophenone derivative as an outstanding linker to enhance potency and β-selectivity of liver X receptor agonist.

Our research found that the 2-hydroxyacetophenone derivative is an outstanding linker between the 1,1-bistrifluoromethylcarbinol moiety and the imidazolidine-2,4-dione moiety to enhance the potency and β-selectivity of liver X receptor (LXR) agonist in our head-to-tail molecular design. The incorporation of this linker is 20-fold more potent than our previous compound (2) for LXR β agonistic activity (EC50) in a GAL-4 luciferase assay. Furthermore, we also identified 5-[5-(1-methylethoxy)pyridyl-2-yl]-5-methylimidazoline-2,4-dione (54), which lowers the lipophilicity of 2-hydroxyacetophenone derivative.

Design, synthesis and pharmacology of 1,1-bistrifluoromethylcarbinol derivatives as liver X receptor β-selective agonists.

A novel series of 1,3-bistrifluoromethylcarbinol derivatives that act as liver X receptor (LXR) β-selective agonists was discovered. Structure-activity relationship studies led to the identification of molecule 62, which was more effective (Emax) and selective toward LXRβ than T0901317 and GW3965. Furthermore, 62 decreased LDL-C without elevating the plasma TG level and significantly suppressed the lipid-accumulation area in the aortic arch in a Bio F1B hamster fed a diet high in fat and cholesterol.

Design and discovery of 2-oxochromene derivatives as liver X receptor β-selective agonists.

In an attempt to molecularly design liver X receptor (LXR) β-selective agonists, we discovered that the combination of the 2-oxochromene moiety (head) and the imidazoline-2,4-dione moiety (tail) plays an important role in the expression potency and selectivity toward LXRβ. We synthesized a series of 2-oxochromene derivatives and identified 43 as a LXRβ-selective agonist that increased the HDL-C level without significantly elevating the TG level and resulted in a decreased lipid-accumulation area in the aortic arch in a high-fat-and-cholesterol-fed Bio F1B hamster. In this manuscript, we report the design, synthesis and pharmacology of these 2-oxochromene derivatives.

Design and synthesis of highly potent and selective human peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha agonists.

A combination of benzoxazole, phenoxyalkyl side chain, and phenoxybutyric acids was identified as a highly potent and selective human peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) agonist. The synthesis, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and in vivo activities of the representative compounds are described.

MgATP-induced conformational changes in a single myosin molecule observed by atomic force microscopy: periodicity of substructures in myosin rods.

This paper discusses the conformational changes in a single myosin molecule directly observed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The myosin molecules were pretreated in rigor solutions without MgATP or in relaxed solutions with various concentrations of MgATP. The images of these molecules were obtained using a tapping mode AFM.

Solution structure of intracellular signal-transducing peptide derived from human beta(2)-adrenergic receptor.

The structure of intracellular third loop peptide (betaIII-2: RRSSKFCLKEKKALK) was studied by CD and NMR spectroscopy. According to the CD study, this peptide forms a helix in the TFE solution. The three-dimensional molecular structure in TFE was determined by the 2D (1)H NMR spectroscopy.