1.Optimization of 3-aryl-3-ethoxypropanoic acids and discovery of the potent GPR40 agonist DS-1558.
Takano R1, Yoshida M2, Inoue M3, Honda T4, Nakashima R5, Matsumoto K5, Yano T5, Ogata T6, Watanabe N7, Hirouchi M7, Kimura T8, Toda N9. Bioorg Med Chem. 2015 Sep 1;23(17):5546-65. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2015.07.028. Epub 2015 Jul 23.
GPR40 agonists stimulate insulin secretion only under the presence of high glucose concentration. Based on this mechanism, GPR40 agonists are believed to be promising novel insulin secretagogues with low risk of hypoglycemia. The optimizations of 3-aryl-3-ethoxypropanoic acids were performed to improve in vitro activity. We discovered compound 29r (DS-1558), (3S)-3-ethoxy-3-(4-{[(1R)-4-(trifluoromethyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-yl]oxy}phenyl)propanoic acid, which was confirmed to have an enhancing effect on glucose-dependent insulin secretion after intravenous glucose injection in SD rats.
2.Identification of N-(4-((1R,3S,5S)-3-Amino-5-methylcyclohexyl)pyridin-3-yl)-6-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-5-fluoropicolinamide (PIM447), a Potent and Selective Proviral Insertion Site of Moloney Murine Leukemia (PIM) 1, 2, and 3 Kinase Inhibitor in Clinical Trials for Hematological Malignancies.
Burger MT, Nishiguchi G, Han W, Lan J, Simmons R, Atallah G, Ding Y, Tamez V, Zhang Y, Mathur M, Muller K, Bellamacina C, Lindvall MK, Zang R, Huh K, Feucht P, Zavorotinskaya T, Dai Y, Basham S, Chan J, Ginn E, Aycinena A, Holash J, Castillo J, Langowski JL, Wang Y, Chen MY, Lambert A, Fritsch C1, Kauffmann A1, Pfister E1, Vanasse KG2, Garcia PD. J Med Chem. 2015 Nov 12;58(21):8373-86. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01275. Epub 2015 Oct 27.
Pan proviral insertion site of Moloney murine leukemia (PIM) 1, 2, and 3 kinase inhibitors have recently begun to be tested in humans to assess whether pan PIM kinase inhibition may provide benefit to cancer patients. Herein, the synthesis, in vitro activity, in vivo activity in an acute myeloid leukemia xenograft model, and preclinical profile of the potent and selective pan PIM kinase inhibitor compound 8 (PIM447) are described. Starting from the reported aminopiperidyl pan PIM kinase inhibitor compound 3, a strategy to improve the microsomal stability was pursued resulting in the identification of potent aminocyclohexyl pan PIM inhibitors with high metabolic stability. From this aminocyclohexyl series, compound 8 entered the clinic in 2012 in multiple myeloma patients and is currently in several phase 1 trials of cancer patients with hematological malignancies.
3.New Alkaloids from Green Vegetable Soybeans and Their Inhibitory Activities on the Proliferation of Concanavalin A-Activated Lymphocytes.
Wang T, Zhao J1, Li X, Xu Q, Liu Y, Khan IA1, Yang S. J Agric Food Chem. 2016 Mar 2;64(8):1649-56. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b06107. Epub 2016 Feb 17.
A comprehensive phytochemical study of the chemical constituents of green vegetable soybeans resulted in the isolation of two new alkaloids, soyalkaloid A, 1, and isoginsenine, 2, together with four known ones, ginsenine, 3, (1S,3S)-1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline-3-carboxylic acid, 4, (1R,3S)-1-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline-3-carboxylic acid, 5, and indole-3-carboxylic acid, 6. The structures of compounds 1-6 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical analyses. All of the alkaloids were isolated from soybeans for the first time, and compound 1 was a new indole-type alkaloid with a novel carbocyclic skeleton. Their inhibitory activities on the proliferation of concanalin A-activated lymphocytes were assessed by CCK8 assay.
4.Lasiolactols A and B Produced by the Grapevine Fungal Pathogen Lasiodiplodia mediterranea.
Andolfi A1, Basso S1, Giambra S2, Conigliaro G2, Piccolo SL2, Alves A3, Burruano S2. Chem Biodivers. 2016 Mar 3. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.201500104. [Epub ahead of print]
A strain of Lasiodiplodia mediterranea, a fungus associated with grapevine decline in Sicily, produced several metabolites in liquid medium. Two new dimeric γ-lactols, lasiolactols A and B (1 and 2), were characterized as (2S*,3S*,4R*,5R*,2'S*,3'S*,4'R*,5'R*)- and (2R*,3S*,4R*,5R*,2'R*,3'S*,4'R*,5'R*)-(5-(4-hydroxymethyl-3,5-dimethyl-tetrahydro-furan-2-yloxy)-2,4-dimethyl-tetrahydro-furan-3-yl]-methanols by IR, 1D- and 2D-NMR and HR-ESI-MS. Other four metabolites were identified as botryosphaeriodiplodin, (5R)-5-hydroxylasiodiplodin, (-)-(1R,2R)-jasmonic acid, (-)-(3S,4R,5R)-4-hydroxymethyl-3,5-dimethyldihydro-2-furanone (3 - 6, resp.). The absolute configuration (R) at hydroxylated secondary C-atom C(7) was also established for compound 3. The compounds 1 - 3, 5 and 6, tested for their phytotoxic activities to grapevine cv. Inzolia leaves at different concentrations (0.125, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/ml), were phytotoxic and compound 5 showed the highest toxicity.