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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Covalent Fragment Screening Using the Quantitative Irreversible Tethering Assay
Published on: February 28, 2025
Recent advances in the development of small-molecule drugs based on covalent reversible inhibitors
Zi Ye1, Jiubo Sun1, Chong-Jing Zhang2
1State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Functions of Natural Medicines and Beijing Key Laboratory of Active Substances Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Institute of Materia Medica Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100050, China.
Abstract:
Reversible covalent inhibitors (RCIs) are a class of small-molecule drugs that engage target proteins through covalent bonds. Unlike irreversible covalent inhibitors, RCIs can dissociate from their target. This reversibility, combined with high selectivity, arises from a binding mechanism that requires both the spatial conformation of the target protein and the reactivity of its residues. Serving as a bridge between traditional non-covalent inhibitors and irreversible covalent inhibitors, RCIs have attracted considerable attention in drug discovery, particularly for kinases, proteases, and other therapeutically relevant targets. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the development of electrophilic warheads designed for specific amino acid residues and the corresponding strategies for RCI design.
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