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Chemical Evolution of Natural Product Structure
Michael Grigalunas1, Susanne Brakmann2, Herbert Waldmann1,2
1Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Physiology, Otto-Hahn Strasse 11, 44227, Dortmund, Germany.
Journal of the American Chemical Society
|February 21, 2022
Summary
Pseudo-natural products mimic nature's chemical structures for drug discovery. This approach combines natural product fragments to create novel, biologically relevant compounds not found in nature, expanding chemical space for new medicines.
Area of Science:
- Medicinal Chemistry
- Chemical Biology
- Drug Discovery
Background:
- Natural products are vital sources of bioactive molecules discovered through evolutionary processes.
- Exploring novel compound classes is crucial for expanding biologically relevant chemical space.
- Existing drug discovery methods can be limited by the chemical diversity of natural products.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and define the concept of pseudo-natural products for drug discovery.
- To outline the workflow for designing and developing pseudo-natural products.
- To demonstrate the prevalence and potential of pseudo-natural products in chemical and biological research.
Main Methods:
- Fragment-based compound development using natural product structures.
- De novo design and combination of natural product fragments.
- Cheminformatic analysis of biologically active synthetic compounds.
- Comparison of pseudo-natural product generation to natural evolutionary processes.
Main Results:
- Pseudo-natural products retain the biological relevance of natural products.
- These novel scaffolds are not produced by known biosynthetic pathways, leading to new chemotypes.
- A significant portion of biologically active synthetic compounds were identified as pseudo-natural products.
- Pseudo-natural products represent a human-driven chemical evolution of natural product structures.
Conclusions:
- The pseudo-natural product concept offers an efficient strategy for discovering new bioactive chemical matter.
- This approach expands the accessible chemical space beyond naturally occurring compounds.
- Pseudo-natural products serve as a valuable, human-made analogue to natural evolution in chemical discovery.
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