The novel adrenergic agonist ATR-127 targets skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue to tackle diabesity and steatohepatitis.

Objective: Simultaneous activation of β2- and β3-adrenoceptors (ARs) improves whole-body metabolism via beneficial effects in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue (BAT). Nevertheless, high-efficacy agonists simultaneously targeting these receptors whilst limiting activation of β1-ARs - and thus inducing cardiovascular complications - are currently non-existent. Therefore, we here developed and evaluated the therapeutic potential of a novel β2-and β3-AR, named ATR-127, for the treatment of obesity and its associated metabolic perturbations in preclinical models.

Development of novel β-adrenergic receptor agonists for the stimulation of glucose uptake - The importance of chirality and ring size of cyclic amines.

β-Adrenergic receptor (βAR) agonists have been reported to stimulate glucose uptake (GU) by skeletal muscle cells and are therefore highly interesting as a possible treatment for type 2 diabetes (T2D). The chirality of compounds often has a great impact on the activity of βAR agonists, although this has thus far not been investigated for GU. Here we report the GU for a selection of synthesized acyclic and cyclic β-hydroxy-3-fluorophenethylamines.

Stereoselective synthesis of the diazonamide a macrocyclic core.

Stereoselective synthesis of the right-hand heteroaromatic macrocycle of diazonamide A features C16-C18 bond formation in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling and atropodiastereoselective Dieckmann-type macrocyclization as key steps. The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling gave the best yields when it was catalyzed by a palladium-dioxygen complex.

Catalytic direct acetoxylation of indoles.

3-Acetoxyindole-2-carboxylates could be readily synthesized in a Pd(OAc)(2)- or PtCl(2)-catalyzed direct C-3 acetoxylation of indole-2-carboxylates using PhI(OAc)(2) as a terminal oxidant.

New melanocortin 1 receptor binding motif based on the C-terminal sequence of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone.

The C-terminal tripeptide of the alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH11-13) possesses strong antiinflammatory activity without known cellular target. In order to better understand the structural requirements for function of such motif, we designed, synthesized and tested out Trp- and Tyr-containing analogues of the alpha-MSH11-13. Seven alpha-MSH11-13 analogues were synthesized and characterized for their binding to the melanocortin receptors recombinantly expressed in insect (Sf9) cells, infected with baculovirus carrying corresponding MC receptor DNA.

Novel selective melanocortin 4 receptor antagonist induces food intake after peripheral administration.

We synthesized a new series of small cyclic melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) analogues and screened them for binding affinity at the four MSH binding melanocortin (MC) receptors. We identified a novel substance HS131, with about 20-fold higher affinity for the MC4 receptor than the MC3 receptor. This substance proved to be antagonist for all the four MC receptors in a cAMP assay.