Metal-Binding Isosteres as New Scaffolds for Metalloenzyme Inhibitors

The principle of isosteres or bioisosteres in medicinal chemistry is a central and essential concept in modern drug discovery. For example, carboxylic acids are often replaced by bioisosteres to mitigate issues related to lipophilicity or acidity while retaining acidic characteristics in addition to hydrogen bond donor/acceptor abilities. Separately, the development of metal-binding pharmacophores (MBPs) for binding to the active site metal ion in metalloenzymes of therapeutic interest is an emerging area in the realm of fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD). The direct application of the bioisostere concept to MBPs has not been well-described or systematically investigated. Herein, the picolinic acid MBP is used as a case study for the development of MBP isosteres (so-called MBIs). Many of these isosteres are novel compounds, and data on their physicochemical properties, metal binding capacity, and metalloenzyme inhibition characteristics are presented. The results show that MBIs of picolinic acid generally retain metal coordinating properties and exhibit predictable metalloenzyme inhibitory activity while possessing a broad range of physicochemical properties (e.g., p K_a, log P). These findings demonstrate the use of bioisosteres results in an untapped source of metal binding functional groups suitable for metalloenzyme FBDD. These MBIs provide a previously unexplored route for modulating the physicochemical properties of metalloenzyme inhibitors and improving their drug-likeness.