10.1248/cpb.46.591
The research focuses on the synthesis and enzymatic hydrolysis of esters that serve as simple models of soft drugs, with the aim of minimizing systemic side effects of drugs by designing molecules that are rapidly inactivated after acting on their pharmacological targets. The study explores the tissue selectivity of hydrolytic metabolism and the molecular structural factors affecting the rate of enzymatic ester cleavage. The chemicals used in the process include a variety of esters, aromatic rings, and enzymes such as pig liver carboxyl esterase and cholesterol esterase. The conclusions drawn from the study indicate that while low tissue specificity was achieved with the substrates tested, both pig liver esterase and cholesterol esterase were found to be relevant test systems for predicting the rates of hydrolysis in tissue-derived fractions. The 2,4-diaminoquinazolines, however, were identified as poor substrates in the systems tested, suggesting that esters comprising a 2,4-diaminoquinazoline ring are not suitable as soft drugs.