Publications by authors named "D Niculescu-Duvaz"

The scale-up of a chiral bicyclic homopiperazine of pharmaceutical interest was investigated. The outcome and safety profile of a key batch ring-expansion step via Schmidt rearrangement was improved using continuous-flow chemistry. The selectivity of nitrogen insertion for the ring expansion was improved via an alternative photochemical oxaziridine rearrangement under mild conditions, which when converted to continuous-flow in a simple and efficient flow reactor allowed the first photochemical scale-up of a homopiperazine.

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Background: KRAS is mutated in ∼90% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, ∼35% of colorectal cancers and ∼20% of non-small-cell lung cancers. There has been recent progress in targeting KRAS specifically, but therapeutic options for other mutant forms of KRAS are limited, largely because the complexity of downstream signaling and feedback mechanisms mean that targeting individual pathway components is ineffective.

Design: The protein kinases RAF and SRC are validated therapeutic targets in KRAS-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, colorectal cancers and non-small-cell lung cancers and we show that both must be inhibited to block growth of these cancers.

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The lysyl oxidase (LOX) family of extracellular proteins plays a vital role in catalyzing the formation of cross-links in fibrillar elastin and collagens leading to extracellular matrix (ECM) stabilization. These enzymes have also been implicated in tumor progression and metastatic disease and have thus become an attractive therapeutic target for many types of invasive cancers. Following our recently published work on the discovery of aminomethylenethiophenes (AMTs) as potent, orally bioavailable LOX/LOXL2 inhibitors, we report herein the discovery of a series of dual LOX/LOXL2 inhibitors, as well as a subseries of LOXL2-selective inhibitors, bearing an aminomethylenethiazole (AMTz) scaffold.

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Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is a secreted copper-dependent amine oxidase that cross-links collagens and elastin in the extracellular matrix and is a critical mediator of tumor growth and metastatic spread. LOX is a target for cancer therapy, and thus the search for therapeutic agents against LOX has been widely sought. We report herein the medicinal chemistry discovery of a series of LOX inhibitors bearing an aminomethylenethiophene (AMT) scaffold.

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