Glycogen synthase kinase-3β, also called tau phosphorylating kinase, is a proline-directed serine/threonine kinase which was originally identified due to its role in glycogen metabolism. Active forms of GSK3β localize to pretangle pathology including dystrophic neuritis and neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. By using a high throughput screening (HTS) approach to search for new chemical series and cocrystallization of key analogues to guide the optimization and synthesis of our pyrazine series, we have developed highly potent and selective inhibitors showing cellular efficacy and blood-brain barrier penetrance. The inhibitors are suitable for in vivo efficacy testing and may serve as a new treatment strategy for Alzheimer's disease.

The evaluation of a series of aminoisoindoles as β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) inhibitors and the discovery of a clinical candidate drug for Alzheimer's disease, (S)-32 (AZD3839), are described. The improvement in permeability properties by the introduction of fluorine adjacent to the amidine moiety, resulting in in vivo brain reduction of Aβ40, is discussed. Due to the basic nature of these compounds, they displayed affinity for the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) ion channel. Different ways to reduce hERG inhibition and increase hERG margins for this series are described, culminating in (S)-16 and (R)-41 showing large in vitro margins with BACE1 cell IC(50) values of 8.6 and 0.16 nM, respectively, and hERG IC(50) values of 16 and 2.8 μM, respectively. Several compounds were advanced into pharmacodynamic studies and demonstrated significant reduction of β-amyloid peptides in mouse brain following oral dosing.

Ethoxylated surfactants are susceptible to oxidation upon air exposure. We have previously studied the rate of peroxidation and formaldehyde formation in the chemically well-defined ethoxylated alcohol C12H25(OCH2CH2)5OH. Formaldehyde is a common cause of contact allergy. The aim of the present study was to identify other oxidation products that could be formed upon air exposure of the ethoxylated alcohol and to determine their allergenic activity. It was shown that air oxidation of C12H25(OCH2CH2)5OH gave all the theoretically possible aldehydes of the general formula C12H25(OCH2CH2)nOCH2CHO (n = 0-4) and that the major oxidation product was C12H25(OCH2CH2)4OCH2CHO, dodecyltetraoxyethyleneoxyacetaldehyde. The structure elucidation and synthesis of these aldehydes are here presented for the first time. The major aldehyde was shown to be a contact allergen with the same sensitizing capacity as that of formaldehyde. A dose-response relationship was observed in the sensitization studies. The allergens were formed from the surfactant itself and the skin reactions cannot be explained due to any impurities that may be present in a technical quality of the surfactant. Cases of allergic contact dermatits to ethoxylated surfactants have been reported. To avoid the formation of allergenic oxidation products it is important to control the conditions for storage, handling, and transportation of ethoxylated surfactants.

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By use of iterative design aided by predictive models for target affinity, brain permeability, and hERG activity, novel and diverse compounds based on cyclic amidine and guanidine cores were synthesized with the goal of finding BACE-1 inhibitors as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Since synthesis feasibility had low priority in the design of the cores, an extensive synthesis effort was needed to make the relevant compounds. Syntheses of these compounds are reported, together with physicochemical properties and structure-activity relationships based on in vitro data. Four crystal structures of diverse amidines binding in the active site are deposited and discussed. Inhibitors of BACE-1 with 3 μM to 32 nM potencies in cells are shown, together with data on in vivo brain exposure levels for four compounds. The results presented show the importance of the core structure for the profile of the final compounds.