The thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase enzyme DsbA catalyzes the formation of disulfide bonds in the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria. DsbA substrates include proteins involved in bacterial virulence. In the absence of DsbA, many of these proteins do not fold correctly, which renders the bacteria avirulent. Thus DsbA is a critical mediator of virulence and inhibitors may act as antivirulence agents. Biophysical screening has been employed to identify fragments that bind to DsbA from Escherichia coli. Elaboration of one of these fragments produced compounds that inhibit DsbA activity in vitro. In cell-based assays, the compounds inhibit bacterial motility, but have no effect on growth in liquid culture, which is consistent with selective inhibition of DsbA. Crystal structures of inhibitors bound to DsbA indicate that they bind adjacent to the active site. Together, the data suggest that DsbA may be amenable to the development of novel antibacterial compounds that act by inhibiting bacterial virulence.

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A set of fluorophenoxyanilides, designed to be simplified analogues of previously reported ω-conotoxin GVIA mimetics, were prepared and tested for N-type calcium channel inhibition in a SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma FLIPR assay. N-type or Cav2.2 channel is a validated target for the treatment of refractory chronic pain. Despite being significantly less complex than the originally designed mimetics, up to a seven-fold improvement in activity was observed.

An efficient and expedient route to the synthesis of dicarba peptides from protecting group-free sequences is reported using Ru-alkylidene catalysed olefin metathesis. A range of cyclic peptides was prepared from linear peptides containing two Z-crotyl glycine residues. Free amine groups were masked as salts with Brønsted acids preventing in situ catalyst decomposition. Excellent RCM conversion was obtained in both DMF and methanol.

This article is part of a themed section on Recent Advances in Targeting Ion Channels to Treat Chronic Pain. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.12/issuetoc.

A facile stereoselective synthesis of cis and trans unsaturated dicarba peptides has been established using preformed diaminosuberic acid derivatives as bridging units. In addition, characteristic spectral differences in the (13)C-NMR spectra of the cis- and trans-isomers show that the chemical shift of carbons in the Δ4,5-diaminosuberic acid residue can be used to assign stereochemistry in unsaturated dicarba peptides formed from ring closing metathesis of linear peptide sequences.

A simple and generic approach to access a new family of Ru-alkylidene olefin metathesis catalysts with specialized properties is reported. This strategy utilizes a late stage, utilitarian Hoveyda-type ligand derived from tyrosine, which can be accessed via a multigram-scale synthesis. Further functionalization allows the catalyst properties to be tuned, giving access to modified second-generation Hoveyda-Grubbs-type catalysts. This divergent synthetic approach can be used to access solid-supported catalysts and catalysts that function under solvent-free and aqueous conditions.

The thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase enzyme DsbA catalyzes the formation of disulfide bonds in the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria. DsbA substrates include proteins involved in bacterial virulence. In the absence of DsbA, many of these proteins do not fold correctly, which renders the bacteria avirulent. Thus DsbA is a critical mediator of virulence and inhibitors may act as antivirulence agents. Biophysical screening has been employed to identify fragments that bind to DsbA from Escherichia coli. Elaboration of one of these fragments produced compounds that inhibit DsbA activity in vitro. In cell-based assays, the compounds inhibit bacterial motility, but have no effect on growth in liquid culture, which is consistent with selective inhibition of DsbA. Crystal structures of inhibitors bound to DsbA indicate that they bind adjacent to the active site. Together, the data suggest that DsbA may be amenable to the development of novel antibacterial compounds that act by inhibiting bacterial virulence.