SAR of biphenyl carboxamide ligands of the human melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 (MCH R1): discovery of antagonist SB-568849.

We report here the discovery of a class of MCH R1 ligands based on a biphenyl carboxamide template. A docked-in model is presented indicating key interactions in the putative binding site of the receptor. Parallel high throughput synthetic techniques were utilised to allow rapid exploration of the structure-activity relationship around this template, leading to compound SB-568849 which possessed good receptor affinity and selectivity.

S-alkyl dithioformates as 1,3-dipolarophiles. Generation of C(2)-unsubstituted penems.

S-Alkyl dithioformates, generated by a cycloreversion process, react as 1,3-dipolarophiles with beta-lactam-based azomethine ylids to provide, after (net) elimination of MeSH, C(2)-unsubstituted penems. The overall cycloreversion/cycloaddition sequence was accelerated by microwave irradiation. [reaction: see text]

Identification of a series of tricyclic natural products as potent broad-spectrum inhibitors of metallo-beta-lactamases.

This work describes the discovery and characterization of a novel series of tricyclic natural product-derived metallo-beta-lactamase inhibitors. Natural product screening of the Bacillus cereus II enzyme identified an extract from a strain of Chaetomium funicola with inhibitory activity against metallo-beta-lactamases. SB236050, SB238569, and SB236049 were successfully extracted and purified from this extract.

Characterization of monomeric L1 metallo-beta -lactamase and the role of the N-terminal extension in negative cooperativity and antibiotic hydrolysis.

The L1 metallo-beta-lactamase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is unique among this class of enzymes because it is tetrameric. Previous work predicted that the two regions of important intersubunit interaction were the residue Met-140 and the N-terminal extensions of each subunit. The N-terminal extension was also implicated in beta-lactam binding.