Novel peptidomimetics as BACE-1 inhibitors: synthesis, molecular modeling, and biological studies

Aiming at identifying new scaffolds for BACE-1 inhibition devoid of the pharmacokinetic drawbacks of peptide-like structures, we investigated a series of novel peptidomimetics based on a 1,4-benzodiazepine (BDZ) core 1a-h and their seco-analogues 2a-d. We herein discuss synthesis, molecular modeling and in vitro studies which, starting from 1a, led to the seco-analogues (R)-2c and (S)-2d endowed with BACE-1 inhibition properties in the micromolar range both on the isolated enzyme and in cellular studies. These data can encourage to pursue these analogues as hits for the development of a new series of BACE-1 inhibitors active on whole-cells.