No abstract

A series of acylguanidine beta secretase 1 (BACE1) inhibitors with modified scaffold and P3 pocket substituent was synthesized and studied with free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations. The resulting molecules showed potencies in enzymatic BACE1 inhibition assays up to 1 nM. The correlation between the predicted activity from the FEP calculations and the experimental activity was good for the P3 pocket substituents. The average mean unsigned error (MUE) between prediction and experiment was 0.68 ± 0.17 kcal/mol for the default 5 ns lambda window simulation time improving to 0.35 ± 0.13 kcal/mol for 40 ns. FEP calculations for the P2' pocket substituents on the same acylguanidine scaffold also showed good agreement with experiment and the results remained stable with repeated simulations and increased simulation time. It proved more difficult to use FEP calculations to study the scaffold modification from increasing 5 to 6 and 7 membered-rings. Although prediction and experiment were in agreement for short 2 ns simulations, as the simulation time increased the results diverged. This was improved by the use of a newly developed "Core Hopping FEP+" approach, which also showed improved stability in repeat calculations. The origins of these differences along with the value of repeat and longer simulation times are discussed. This work provides a further example of the use of FEP as a computational tool for molecular design.

Beta site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) inhibitors hold great potential as disease modifying anti-Alzheimer's drugs. This digest provides an overview of the amidine containing class of BACE1 inhibitors, of which multiple examples are now progressing through clinical trials. The various structural modifications highlight the struggle to combine potency with the optimal properties for a brain penetrant BACE1 inhibitor, and illustrate the crowded competitive landscape. This overview concludes with a summary of potential issues including substrate and target selectivity and a synopsis of the status of the current and past clinical assets.

1,4-Oxazines are presented, which show good in vitro inhibition in enzymatic and cellular BACE1 assays. We describe lead optimization focused on reducing the amidine pKa while optimizing interactions in the BACE1 active site. Our strategy permitted modulation of properties such as permeation and especially P-glycoprotein efflux. This led to compounds which were orally bioavailable, centrally active, and which demonstrated robust lowering of brain and CSF Aβ levels, respectively, in mouse and dog models. The amyloid lowering potential of these molecules makes them valuable leads in the search for new BACE1 inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Copper-catalyzed borylation of a variety of organic halides with bis(pinacolato)diboron allows the preparation of diverse potassium organotrifluoroborates. The reactions are mild and general, providing access to a variety of interesting, boron-containing building blocks, including those containing piperidine, pyrrole, azetidine, tetrahydropyran and oxetane substructures. Representative Minisci reactions are reported for select examples.