Selective
inhibition of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is an important
therapeutic approach to target neurodegenerative disorders. However,
the majority of the nNOS inhibitors developed are arginine mimetics
and, therefore, suffer from poor bioavailability. We designed a novel
strategy to combine a more pharmacokinetically favorable 2-imidazolylpyrimidine
head with promising structural components from previous inhibitors.
In conjunction with extensive structure–activity studies, several
highly potent and selective inhibitors of nNOS were discovered. X-ray
crystallographic analysis reveals that these type II inhibitors utilize
the same hydrophobic pocket to gain strong inhibitory potency (13), as well as high isoform selectivity. Interestingly, select
compounds from this series (9) showed good permeability
and low efflux in a Caco-2 assay, suggesting potential oral bioavailability,
and exhibited minimal off-target binding to 50 central nervous system
receptors. Furthermore, even with heme-coordinating groups in the
molecule, modifying other pharmacophoric fragments minimized undesirable
inhibition of cytochrome P450s from human liver microsomes.