The use of bioisosteric groups in lead optimization

It is now half a century since Friedman introduced the term bioisosterism for the similar biological activity of structurally related compounds. Since then, the concept has been used extensively and successfully in the optimization of lead compounds in drug discovery. The number of chemical lead compounds has expanded enormously in recent years due to the expression of an increasing number of recombinant proteins, and the screening of these new protein targets against a large number of compounds in high-throughput screens. For the fine-tuning of lead compounds to obtain candidates suitable for clinical trials, which is in most circumstances still a tedious process, the use of bioisosteric replacement can be of significant value. This is especially the case in optimizing for selectivity for a specific target and in improving the pharmacokinetic properties of lead compounds. The use of bioisosteres in lead optimization is illustrated by some recent examples from the literature.