2
D.-D. Li et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 118 (2016) 1e8
antagonists to inhibit H3K4 methyltransferase activity can be a
potential therapeutic strategy to treat leukemias carrying MLL1
fusion proteins.
Recently, a series of MLL1 Win motif containing peptides were
reported to bind to WDR5 and disturb the interaction of MLL1-
WDR5 interaction [17]. Then researchers found the minimum
MLL1 derived peptide Ac-Ala-Arg-Ala-NH2, with a high affinity
binding to WDR5 [18]. Peptidomimetic MM-102 and cyclized
peptidomimetic MM-401 (Fig. 1) were modified based upon Ac-
Ala-Arg-Ala-NH2 to target MLL1-WDR5 interaction with higher
affinity [19]. All of the peptidomimetics contain a conserved argi-
nine with poor cell-permeability. To date, only one category of
small molecular antagonists were reported to interfere the inter-
action of MLL1-WDR5, the best compound OICR-9429
(Kd ¼ 93 28 nM) was reported as a potent and selective WDR5
Fig. 2. The structure of four groups of inhibitors.
atmosphere at room temperature. Catalyzed with Dichlorobis(-
triphenylphosphine)palladium(II), Suzuki coupling reactions were
employed in 1, 4-dioxane to yield target compounds 18~25
(Scheme 1), bearing an aromatic ring in the 5-position. 25 was
reacted with reductive Tin (II) dichloride dehydrate in ethyl acetate
to get the target compound 26. Compounds 29~32 were synthe-
tized following the synthetic route of compounds 17~26 from 4-
bromo-2-fluoronitrobenzene 5b (Scheme 1).
Compound 27 was accomplished under the similar reaction
with the first analogue. But the 5-subsitution was achieved in the
first step to give a 5-phenyl product through Suzuki coupling re-
action catalyzed by Tetrakis (triphenylphosphine) platinum (0) in
THF. Also the intermediate 14 was reacted with chloride of acid 9
nitrified from acid 3 to give target compound 27 with a nitro
(Scheme 2).
WDR5-47 was synthetized from 2-fluoro-5-nitroniline accord-
ing to the published reference [21]. The reaction of compound 15
with N-methyl piperazine in DMF gave the corresponding amino
16. The amino was then treated with the chloride of acid 3 and 9 to
generate target WDR5-47 and 28. Then the nitro of WDR5-47 was
converted into amino with reductive in the following step to yield
compound 17 (Scheme 3). The synthesis of compounds 33~36 fol-
lowed the synthetic route of WDR5-47 with different Benzene-
sulfonyl chlorides (Scheme 4).
Different anilines reacted with chloride of 2-fluoro-5-
nitrobenzoic acid to product intermediates 37a~40a, then treated
with N-methyl piperazine in DMF gave the target compounds
37~40 (Scheme 5).
antagonist [20]. WDR5-47 (IC50 ¼ 0.3
mM), with a low molecular
weight, had moderate affinity of binding to WDR5 [21,22], thus
WDR5-47 was selected as a hit to optimize to achieve compounds
with higher affinity to MLL1-WDR5 interaction.
In the present study, we have designed and synthetized series of
small molecular inhibitors of MLL1-WDR5, based on the co-crystal
structure of WDR5-47 and WDR5 protein complex. With modifi-
cation of compound WDR5-47, a more potent inhibitor 23 was
identified. To our best knowledge, 23 was one of the most potent
small molecular, which disturbed the interaction of MLL1-WDR5
with IC50 value was 104 nM and about 3-times more potent than
compound WDR5-47 in fluorescence polarization (FP) assay. The
SAR of these series of compounds was discussed along with the
docking study, which may stimulate more potent inhibitors in
future.
2. Results and discussion
2.1. Chemistry
The structure of compounds shown in Fig. 2 can be divided into
four groups. In the first group, only R1 was substituted (17~26); but
in the second, both R1 and R2 were substituted (27~28); in the third
group, the substituents of the first group (R1) were moved to the 4-
position, with no substituent in R2 (29~32). In the fourth group, the
linker between two rings was changed (33~40).
FriedeleCrafts acylation reaction was performed to synthetize
1-(2-chloro-4-fluoro-3-methylphenyl) ethanone 2 from 2-chloro-
6-fluorotoluene and acetyl chloride. Then a haloform reaction was
employed in 1, 4-dioxane to provide the acid 3 [23]. The fluorine of
5-bromo-2-fluoronitrobenzene 5a was displaced by N-methyl
piperazine generating compound 6a. 6a was reacted with reductive
Tin (II) dichloride dehydrate in ethyl acetate to get the aniline 7a.
The key intermediate benzamide 8a was prepared with aniline 7a
and the chloride of acid 3 in anhydrous dichloromethane under N2
2.2. Binding assays
2.2.1. Binding affinity evaluation of compounds disturb the
interaction of MLL1-WDR5 by FP assay
10 Peptidomimetic of Win motif (ARTEVHLRKS) for WDR5 was
synthesized, C-terminal-labeled with 5-carboxy fluorescein (5-
FAM) tagged tracers linked through the side chain of a Lysine res-
idue next to the two 6-amino hexanoic acid linker with the Serine
Fig. 1. Examples of reported inhibitors of MLL1-WDR5 PPI.