NNMT uses SAM as a cofactor to catalyze the methylation of nicotinamide, producing 1-methylnicotinamide. Recent studies have shown that NNMT upregulation in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) is required to maintain the CAF phenotype in high-grade serous carcinoma. These observations suggest that NNMT should be evaluated as a therapeutic target, especially in cancer. Although several small-molecule inhibitors of NNMT have been identified, there remains a need for highly potent and selective inhibitors with excellent in vivo activity and ADME properties that can be used as reliable chemical probes. We have identified azaindoline carboxamide 38 as a selective and potent NNMT inhibitor with favorable PK/PD and safety profiles as well as excellent oral bioavailability and pharmaceutical properties. Our mechanistic studies indicate that 38 binds uncompetitively with SAM but competitively with nicotinamide consistent with its binding in the nicotinamide binding site and likely forming a positive interaction with SAM.

Lignans are a structurally diverse class of natural products with extensive pharmacological effects. Here we report the syntheses of both natural and unnatural dibenzylbutane lignans from a common intermediate, which is prepared in five steps from known materials. Derivatization of this intermediate affords lignans featuring contiguous stereocenters in a high diastereomeric purity after chromatography. This divergent synthetic route can be exploited to prepare dibenzylbutane lignans and analogues thereof to probe their biological profiles.

Herein, we report the discovery of a potent and selective dual DDR1/2 inhibitor, 7e (VU6015929), displaying low cytotoxicity, good kinome selectivity, and possessing an acceptable in vitro DMPK profile with good rodent in vivo pharmacokinetics. VU6015929 potently blocks collagen-induced DDR1 activation and collagen-IV production, suggesting DDR1 inhibition as an exciting target for antifibrotic therapy.

Hybrubins are an emerging class of prodiginines possessing a new C ring derived from 5′-substituted tetramic acids and the methylene bridge connecting the C ring at a different position. We have supposed that condensation between 4′-methoxy-2,2′-bipyrrole-5′-carbaldehyde (MBC) and 5-ethylidenetetramic acid (ETA) yields the hybrid natural products hybrubins, which was proposed to be catalyzed by the undecylprodigiosin synthetase RedH. However, it is doubted whether RedH is able to catalyze another type of condensation between MBC and tetramic acids. In this study, we have demonstrated that the MBC-ETA condensation proceeds through RedH/PigC-catalyzed enzymatic activation of MBC via phosphorylation and a nonenzymatic condensation of Pi-MBC with ETA. Since MBC analogues have been shown to be accepted by PigC, more hybrubin analogues might be produced by using combinations of MBC analogues and other tetramic acids in future studies.

Here, we report the first total synthesis of hybrubin A, a bipyrrole tetramic acid alkaloid representing a new carbon framework derived from convergent (truncated red cluster and exogenous hbn cluster) biosynthetic pathways. A highly convergent synthesis was developed, employing 4-methoxy-1,5-dihydro-2H-pyrrol-2-one (13) as a single starting material to provide hybrubin A in three steps from 13 and 20.8% overall yield. As no biological activity was prescribed to hybrubin A except for a lack of cytotoxicity, we further profiled this unique alkaloid across panels of discrete molecular targets. Interestingly, hybrubin A was found to be a ligand for a variety of GPCRs with a propensity for potent binding across therapeutically relevant adenosine receptors (A1, A2a, and A3) as well as a potent activity at a kinase, FLT3. This pattern of biological activity is distinct from other related prodigiosin natural and unnatural products and is even more intriguing in the absence of cytotoxicity.

Herein, we report the synthesis and structure–activity relationship of a series of chiral alkoxymethyl morpholine analogs. Our efforts have culminated in the identification of (S)-2-(((6-chloropyridin-2-yl)oxy)methyl)-4-((6-fluoro-1H-indol-3-yl)methyl)morpholine as a novel potent and selective dopamine D4 receptor antagonist with selectivity against the other dopamine receptors tested (<10% inhibition at 1μM against D1, D2L, D2S, D3, and D5).

Herein, we report the synthesis and structure-activity relationship of a novel series of (R)-4,4-difluoropiperidine core scaffold as dopamine receptor 4 (D4) antagonists. A series of compounds from this scaffold are highly potent against the D4 receptor and selective against the other dopamine receptors. In addition, we were able to confirm the active isomer as the (R)-enantiomer via an X-ray crystal structure.

A novel one-pot, "green" protocol to rapidly access pharmaceutically relevant heteroaryl methyl substrates is described. This process allows for a tandem S(N)2/Suzuki-Miyaura reaction or Sonogashira reaction across a breadth of chemical diversity with yields ranging between 31 and 87% for the tandem Suzuki-Miyaura process and 50-66% for the tandem Sonogashira process. This procedure tolerates S, N, and O heteroatom linkers and is amenable for both rapid and robust lead development screening. In addition, T-type and N-type calcium channel blocker (15) was synthesized in 43% yield using this methodology which stands as an improvement in both yield and reaction time of the previously reported synthesis. The one-pot protocol also allows for the inclusion of greater chemical diversity within the scaffold of 15. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.