FragGrow: A Web Server for Structure-Based Drug Design by Fragment Growing within Constraints

Fragment growing is an important ligand design strategy in drug discovery. In this study, we present FragGrow, a web server that facilitates structure-based drug design by fragment growing. FragGrow offers two working modes: one for growing molecules through the direct replacement of hydrogen atoms or substructures and the other for growing via virtual synthesis. FragGrow works by searching for suitable fragments that meet a set of constraints from an indexed 3D fragment database and using them to create new compounds in 3D space. The users can set a range of constraints when searching for their desired fragment, including the fragment's ability to interact with specific protein sites; its size, topology, and physicochemical properties; and the presence of particular heteroatoms and functional groups within the fragment. We hope that FragGrow will serve as a useful tool for medicinal chemists in ligand design. The FragGrow server is freely available to researchers and can be accessed at https://fraggrow.xundrug.cn.