title: Imidazole-5-acrylic acids: potent nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonists designed using a novel peptide pharmacophore model.
abstract: A series of novel nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonists containing a substituted (E)-acrylic acid has been developed. The overlay of 1, an imidazole-5-acetic acid found in the patent literature, on a novel pharmacophore model of AII suggested that extension of the acid side chain and attachment of a second aryl residue to mimic the C-terminal phenylalanine region of AII would lead to increased activity. A study of extended acid side chains at C-5 of the imidazole nucleus led to the discovery of the (E)-acrylic acid 5 as a promising starting point for further exploration. As predicted by the modeling, substitution of a benzyl group on the acrylic acid side chain to mimic the phenylalanine gave increased potency. An extensive study of the SAR of the newly introduced aromatic ring revealed that electron-rich heteroaryl rings provided improved activity, most notably in the in vivo rat models. Compound 40, (E)-3-[2-butyl-1- [(2-chlorophenyl)methyl]imidazol-5-yl]-2-[(2-thienyl)methyl]-2- propenoic acid, has been shown to be a potent, competitive, and orally active small molecule AT-1 receptor antagonist. It exhibits a 2 orders of magnitude increase in binding affinity and a 10-fold improvement in in vivo potency as compared to compound 1 and represents an important milestone in the development of even more potent nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406-0939.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weinstock
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Gaitanopoulos
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Samanen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hempel
mesh_terms: D000179:Acrylates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits; D011869:Radioligand Assay; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D000179:Acrylates; D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D007093:Imidazoles