Discovery of (3S,4S)-3-methyl-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-hydroxyprop-2-yl)phenyl)pyrrolidines as novel RORγt inverse agonists.

A novel series of cis-3,4-diphenylpyrrolidines were designed as RORγt inverse agonists based on the binding conformation of previously reported bicyclic sulfonamide 1. Preliminary synthesis and structure-activity relationship (SAR) study established (3S,4S)-3-methyl-3-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-hydroxyprop-2-yl)phenyl)pyrrolidine as the most effective scaffold. Subsequent SAR optimization led to identification of a piperidinyl carboxamide 31, which was potent against RORγt (EC of 61 nM in an inverse agonist assay), selective relative to RORα, RORβ, LXRα and LXRβ, and stable in human and mouse liver microsomes.

Identification of bicyclic hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol sulfonamides as retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor gamma (RORγ/RORc) inverse agonists. Employing structure-based drug design to improve pregnane X receptor (PXR) selectivity.

We disclose the optimization of a high throughput screening hit to yield benzothiazine and tetrahydroquinoline sulfonamides as potent RORγt inverse agonists. However, a majority of these compounds showed potent activity against pregnane X receptor (PXR) and modest activity against liver X receptor α (LXRα). Structure-based drug design (SBDD) led to the identification of benzothiazine and tetrahydroquinoline sulfonamide analogs which completely dialed out LXRα activity and were less potent at PXR.