1142
J. W. Johannes et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 24 (2014) 1138–1143
Br
NH2
NH2
ophene CH, and the other changed the C6 heterocycle from a thio-
phene to a thiazole, which switches an aryl CH for an aryl nitrogen
that can accept a hydrogen bond from the neighboring C7 NH
group.
Br
N
HO
O
a
c
b
+
O
O
N
H
N
N
I-1
I-2
The key feature of compound 4 was its exquisite TBK1 enzyme
potency and single-digit nM activity in the TBK1 reporter assay.
However, the AurB selectivity of this compound was poor, less than
10-fold at the enzyme level versus TBK1. Armed with new selectiv-
ity enhancing 6-aryl groups, we set out to synthesize compounds
bearing functionality at both the 6 and 7-position of the azabenz-
imidazole system (Table 5). To test the first hypothesis that intro-
duction of an ether linked propyl-carboxamide group would pair
well with larger groups, we made the matched pair 4 and 21,
which differed only by the atom linker at C7 of the azabenzimidaz-
ole. Unfortunately, this ether linked analog showed a dramatic loss
in TBK1 enzyme potency relative to the nitrogen linker. As a final
test of this hypothesis, we made 22, which placed the thiophene
carboxamide at the C6 position alongside the C7 ether linked pro-
pyl-carboxamide. Compound 22 was slightly more potent than the
6-Br analog 21, but when compared to the C7-unsubstituted com-
pound 10 (vide supra), 22 was 10ꢁ less active upon introduction of
the C7 ether linked appendage.
We next focused our efforts on our second hypothesis, pairing a
C6 aryl group with the C7-nitrogen linkage via the introduction of a
thiazole group. This specific thiazole isomer was chosen because it
provided an internal H-bond acceptor to the C7 NH, maintained a
heterocyclic sulfur atom, and was synthetically accessible. Inter-
mediate thiocarboxamide 23 showed initial promise; it had a
TBK1 enzyme IC50 of 46 nM and improved selectivity versus AurB
compared to C6-bromo analog 4, but reduced cell potency. Further
elaboration of this thiocarboxamide resulted in thiazole 24, a 34
nM TBK1 enzyme inhibitor with poor cell potency, presumably
again due to the acid moiety. As expected, the carboxamide analog
25 gave a compound that was 7 nM in the TBK1 cell reporter assay.
NH
O
S
O
HO
S
N
N
O
O
N
H
N
H
N
N
10
19
Scheme 1. Synthesis of compounds 10 and 19. Reagents and conditions: (a) POCl3
(2 equiv), CH3CN, 150 °C, mw, 1 h, 59%; (b) 4-boronothiophene-2-carboxylic acid
(1.1 equiv), Cs2CO3 (2.5 equiv), sodium 3,30,300-phosphinetriyltribenzenesulfonate
tetrahydrate (0.2 equiv), Pd(OAc)2 (0.05 equiv), H2O:CH3CN (2:1), 150 °C, mw,
5 min; (c) HATU (1 equiv), DIEA (2 equiv), DMA, 2-methylpropan-1-amine
(1 equiv), 55% (2 steps).
The synthesis of a series of 6,7-substituted azabenzimidazoles is
outlined in Scheme 2. Again, POCl3 was used to condense diamino
pyridine I-3 and p-anisic acid to give the bicyclic heterocycle 6-Br-
7-Cl-azabenzimidazole I-4. Heating an excess of 1,3-diaminopro-
pane with the 7-chloro-azabenzimidazole I-4 in butanol gave pri-
mary amine I-5 in good yield. Amide bond formation to give 4
was achieved using cyclopentanecarbonyl chloride under Schot-
ten–Baumann conditions. Treatment of the bromide 4 with several
equivalents of copper cyanide gave nitrile I-6 after workup with
ammonia. Exposure of the nitrile to successive amounts of ammo-
nium sulfide over 48 h resulted in thioamide 23. The thiazole ring
was constructed via a Hantzsch thiazole synthesis to give carbox-
ylic acid 24. Finally, HATU coupling with either ammonium
hydroxide or isobutylamine gave 25 and 26 respectively.
The compounds described herein may be useful in vitro probes
25 was potent inhibitor of TBK1 and IKK-
e
enzymes with a slight
for further validation work on TBK1 and IKK-
We have used structure based design to morph the thiophene
group from a reported IKK- inhibitor onto the 6-position of an
azabenzimidazole scaffold. This led to the discovery of 6-aryl-aza-
benzimidazoles 19 and 20, which have an improved kinase selec-
tivity profile versus CDK2 and AurB over C6-bromo compound 4
e as oncology targets.
improvement in selectivity versus the C6 Br compound 4. Interest-
ingly, further elaboration of the carboxamide with the isobutyl
group present in compound 19 (Table 4, above) caused a loss in
TBK1 enzyme potency and cell reporter potency while also reduc-
ing AurB enzyme potency. It is plausible that the terminal C7 cyclo-
pentyl group and isobutyl groups attempt to occupy similar
binding pockets in the enzyme.
The synthesis of advanced 6-aryl-7-H-azabeznimidazole 19 is
outline in Scheme 1. The synthesis began via POCl3-mediated het-
erocycle formation between diamino pyridine I-1 and p-anisic acid
to give the 6-Br-azabenzimidazole I-2.20 Suzuki coupling between
commercially available 4-boronothiophene-2-carboxylic acid and
unprotected azabenzimidazole I-2 was possible utilizing a water-
soluble phosphine ligand to give the 6-aryl-azabenzimidazole
10.21 The synthesis of 19 was completed by HATU coupling be-
tween 2-methylpropan-1-amine and acid 10.
e
while still demonstrating TBK1/IKK-e enzyme potency and low
double digit nM potency against a cell based reporter assay. We
have also uncovered compound 25, which has single digit nM po-
tency in the cell reporter assay and very good TBK1 enzyme po-
tency. Compound 25, along with compounds 1, 4, 17, 18, 19, 20,
and 26, have slightly lower IC50’s in the cell assay versus the
TBK1 enzyme assay, and compounds 2, 15, 16, and 23 show only
a very small drop from enzyme to cell. In either case, the cell and
enzyme IC50’s are within the error of the assays. This is a surprising
and interesting result. Since the TBK1 and IKK-e enzyme assays are
run at KM ATP concentrations and the cell contains mM levels of
ATP, one may expect a drop in potency from enzyme to cell. One
explanation for why this is not observed here relies on the fact that
TBK1 contains several interacting domains and loops that are in-
volved in the homodimerization, trans-autophosphorylation, and
subsequent activation of the kinase.9 If these compounds bind to
an inactive conformation of the kinase, the affinity of that form
for ATP could be significantly reduced, in which case ATP would
not compete as strongly with the inhibitor as expected.22 In this
situation, one might observe very little drop-off from enzyme to
cell with highly permeable compounds.
R
R
S
O
R
N
R
S
R
R
HN
N
N
H
N
N
R
R
R
N
H
N
HN
N
S
Acknowledgments
N
H
N
The authors would like to thank Judith Stanway for insect cell
culture, Anna Valentine for protein purification, Claire Brassington
Figure 4. Two possible solutions to relieve the steric interaction between the C6
and C7 substituents.