Saturated bioisosteres of benzene and their application in drug design: BENOVELTY

Programme(s): H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Topic(s): ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS

Call for proposal: ERC-2020-COG

Funding Scheme: ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

Grant agreement ID: 101000893

Project description :
Novel saturated benzene bioisosteres developed
Modern medicinal chemistry exploits only a limited chemical space, with most drugs that target proteins consisting of phenyl-containing organic molecules. Although safe compounds can be identified outside conventional drug chemistry, the chemical synthesis methodology for delivering novel compounds is limited. The EU-funded BENOVELTY project will synthesise novel saturated bioisosteres of benzene rings. Scientists will incorporate these structures into known anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antihypertensive drugs instead of the fragment of the benzene ring. The key objective is to expand the drug chemical space and generate patent-free analogues with improved physicochemical and biological properties.

Objective

More than 500 of all existing drugs are phenyl-containing organic molecules. During the recent years, however, pharmaceutical companies struggle to deliver novel drugs to the market, because of the lack of innovative practical approaches towards novel drug-like “chemical space.” In this project, we will address this issue by developing novel saturated bioisosteres for ortho- and meta-substituted benzenes, and incorporate them into several known drugs (intiinflamatory Aceclofenac, antiviral Tipranavir, antihypertensive Oxprenolol, etc) to provide novel patent-free analogues with improved physico-chemical and biological properties.