H. J. Hunt et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 25 (2015) 5720–5725
5721
O
O
O
O
X
O
S
S
N
N
Y
N
N
N
OH
N
N
CF3
O
F
F
mifepristone
1
CORT108297
Figure 1. Glucocorticoid receptor antagonist structures.
compound exhibited excellent potency (Ki = 6.8 nM) in a reporter
gene assay. CORT108297 has demonstrated very encouraging
in vivo results in several animal models, including the olanzapine
inducedweight gain model in rats,4,5 thediet-inducedobesity model
in mice,6 a rapid onset diabetes model in rats,7 the 3xTg-AD mouse
model of Alzheimer’s disease,8 the forced swim test in rats,9 and
the Wobbler mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).10
CORT108297 has also been shown to attenuate the deleterious
effects of electroconvulsive therapy in rats.11 A recent publication
by Zalachoras et al.12 describes differential targeting of brain stress
circuits by CORT108297, and provides evidence that the compound
acts as a GR agonist, rather than an antagonist, on some parameters.
We now wish to report further optimization of this series,
leading to the identification of several compounds that combine
excellent GR antagonism with an improved pharmacokinetic
profile in rats, a reduction in hERG inhibition, and efficacy in vivo.
The heteroaryl ketones were synthesized from the common
intermediate 2 as depicted in Scheme 1. Intermediate 2 was used
to synthesize CORT108297 and other analogs, and its synthesis
has been described previously.3 Compound 2 was reduced to pro-
vide aldehyde 3, and then addition of an appropriate heteroaryl
lithium reagent resulted in the formation of the alcohols 4, which
could be readily oxidized to the required ketones 5. Removal of the
BOC protecting group under acidic conditions furnished the amines
6, which were coupled with the appropriate sulfonyl chloride to
provide the desired compounds 7. Direct conversion of the ester
2 to the ketone 5 was accomplished for many analogs by using
excess aryl lithium reagent. For some analogs, it was more conve-
nient to install the sulfonamide before the ketone. In these cases,
compound 2 was deprotected under acidic conditions and the
resultant amine 8 was converted into the desired sulfonamide 9.
Addition of an appropriate heteroaryl lithium reagent then
provided the required compounds 7. This approach is depicted in
Scheme 2.
The in vitro assays used to characterize the biological activities
of the GR ligands included a fluorescence polarization (FP) GR
binding assay13 and a tyrosine amino transferase (TAT) induction
assay in human HepG2 cells.14 Further characterization included
TAT induction assays in rat H4IIEC3 cells, and in primary hepato-
cytes derived from humans, rats, dogs and cynomolgus monkeys.14
Dexamethasone induces TAT activity in various cells, including
HepG2 cells, H4IIEC3 cells and hepatocytes. Compounds were
tested for their ability to antagonize the effect of dexamethasone
(measure of GR antagonism), and were also tested in the absence
of dexamethasone for their ability to induce TAT activity (measure
of GR agonism). hERG inhibition was evaluated in a manual patch
clamp assay.
Our objectives in continuing the optimization of our series of GR
antagonists were two-fold: we wanted to identify compounds with
improved GR antagonism that were devoid of GR agonist effects,
and we wanted to reduce the propensity for hERG inhibition.
CORT108297 has an IC50 of 0.8 lM in our manual patch clamp
assay. In the first stage of our optimization we maintained the tri-
fluoromethylphenylsulfonamide present in CORT108297 and
focused on varying the substituent at the ring junction. Based on
assessment of our model of CORT108297 docked in the active site
of GR (Fig. 2), we believed that increasing the size of this sub-
stituent would lead to improved antagonism, and abolish agonism.
We believe that the substituent at the ring junction in our series of
1H-pyrazolo[3,4-g]hexahydro-isoquinolines performs the same
role as the dimethylaminophenyl substituent in mifepristone.
The substituted phenyl group in mifepristone has been reported
to cause a shift in the position of helix 1215 and thus prevent the
formation of the conformation of GR required for agonism.
O
O
O
Ar
O
O
Ar
O
tBu
tBu
H
N
O
N
O
N
N
N
f
d
N
N
N
N
2
5
6
a
F
F
c
e
F
Ar
O
O
O
H
O
O
Ar
OH O
tBu
tBu
S
N
Y
N
O
N
O
N
N
N
b
N
N
N
3
4
7
F
F
F
Scheme 1. Reagents and conditions: (a) DiBAL, CH2Cl2, À78 °C (32%); (b) ArBr, nBuLi, ether, À78° or ArH, nBuLi, ether, À78 °C (13–29%); (c) Dess–Martin periodinane, CH2Cl2,
i
rt (quant.); (d) HCl, dioxane, rt or TFA, CH2Cl2, rt (quant.); (e) YSO2Cl, Pr2EtN, CH2Cl2, rt (50–80%); (f) ArBr, nBuLi, ether, À78 °C (40–70%).