1,4-Benzodiazepines are used in the treatment of anxiety disorders but have limited long term use due to adverse effects. HZ-166 (2) has been shown to have anxiolytic-like effects with reduced sedative/ataxic liabilities. A 1,3-oxazole KRM-II-81 (9) was discovered from a series of six bioisosteres with significantly improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties as compared to 2. Oxazole 9 was further characterized and exhibited improved anxiolytic-like effects in a mouse marble burying assay and a rat Vogel conflict test.

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Quinone methide (QM) formation induced by endogenously generated H2O2 is attractive for biological and biomedical applications. To overcome current limitations due to low biological activity of H2O2-activated QM precursors, we are introducing herein several new arylboronates with electron donating substituents at different positions of benzene ring and/or different neutral leaving groups. The reaction rate of the arylboronate esters with H2O2 and subsequent bisquinone methides formation and DNA cross-linking was accelerated with the application of Br as a leaving group instead of acetoxy groups. Additionally, a donating group placed meta to the nascent exo-methylene group of the quinone methide greatly improves H2O2-induced DNA interstrand cross-link formation as well as enhances the cellular activity. Multiple donating groups decrease the stability and DNA cross-linking capability, which lead to low cellular activity. A cell-based screen demonstrated that compounds 2a and 5a with a OMe or OH group dramatically inhibited the growth of various tissue-derived cancer cells while normal cells were less affected. Induction of H2AX phosphorylation by these compounds in CLL lymphocytes provide evidence for a correlation between cell death and DNA damage. The compounds presented herein showed potent anticancer activities and selectivity, which represent a novel scaffold for anticancer drug development.

A high throughput screening campaign was conducted to identify small molecules with the ability to inhibit the interaction between the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and steroid receptor coactivator 2. These inhibitors represent novel molecular probes to modulate gene regulation mediated by VDR. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ (PPARδ) agonist GW0742 was among the identified VDR-coactivator inhibitors and has been characterized herein as a pan nuclear receptor antagonist at concentrations higher than 12.1 µM. The highest antagonist activity for GW0742 was found for VDR and the androgen receptor (AR). Surprisingly, GW0742 behaved as PPAR agonist/antagonist activating transcription at lower concentration and inhibiting this effect at higher concentrations. A unique spectroscopic property of GW0742 was identified as well. In the presence of rhodamine-derived molecules, GW0742+ increased fluorescence intensity and fluorescence polarization at an excitation wavelength of 595 nm and emission wavelength of 615 nm in a dose dependent manner. The GW0742-inhibited NR-coactivator binding resulted in a reduced expression of five different NR target genes in LNCaP cells in the presence of agonist. Especially VDR target genes CYP24A1, IGFBP-3 and TRPV6 were negatively regulated by GW0742. GW0742 is the first VDR ligand inhibitor lacking the secosteroid structure of VDR ligand antagonists. Nevertheless, the VDR-meditated downstream process of cell differentiation was antagonized by GW0742 in HL-60 cells that were pretreated with the endogenous VDR agonist 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3.