In this study, 20 metallocene-based compounds comprising extensive structural diversity were synthesized and evaluated as carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) inhibitors. These compounds proved moderate to good CA inhibitors in vitro, with several compounds displaying selectivity for cancer-associated isozymes CA IX and CA XII compared to off-target CA I and CA II. Compound 6 was the most potent ferrocene-based inhibitor with K(i)s of 5.9 and 6.8 nM at CA IX and XII, respectively. A selection of key drug-like parameters comprising Log P, Log D, solubility, and in vitro metabolic stability and permeability were measured for two of the ferrocene-based compounds, regioisomers 1 and 5. Compounds 1 and 5 were found to have characteristics consistent with lipophilic compounds, however, our findings show that the lipophilicity of the ferrocene moiety is not well modeled by replacement with either a naphthyl or a phenyl moiety in software prediction tools.

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In recent years there has been renewed activity in the literature concerning the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction (1,3-DCR) of organic azides (R-N₃) with alkynes (R'-C≡CH) to form 1,2,3-triazoles, i.e. the Huisgen synthesis. The use of catalytic Cu(I) leads to a dramatic rate enhancement (up to 10(7)-fold) and exclusive synthesis of the 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole product. The reaction, now referred to as the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), meets the stringent criteria of a click-reaction in that it is modular, wide in scope, high yielding, has no byproducts, operates in water at ambient temperature, product purification is simple and the starting materials are readily available. The 1,3-DCR reaction has rapidly become the premier click chemistry reaction with applications spanning modern chemistry disciplines, including medicinal chemistry. Recently the 'tail' approach initiative for the development of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) has been combined with the synthetic versatility of click chemistry. This has proven a powerful combination leading to the synthesis of CAIs with useful biopharmaceutical properties and activities. This review will discuss complementary and contrasting applications that have utilized 'click tailing' for the development of CAIs. Applications encompass i) medicinal chemistry and drug discovery; ii) radiopharmaceutical development of positron emission topography (PET) chemical probes; and iii) in situ click chemistry.

We have determined the protein X-ray crystal structures of four organometallic inhibitors in complex with their target enzyme carbonic anhydrase II. The barrel-shaped hydrophobic ferrocene and ruthenocene moieties have provided a structure-based avenue to better occupy the hydrophobic binding patch within the enzyme active site.

Carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) is a recently validated target for the development of new cancer therapies. In this Letter we describe the synthesis and CA inhibition of a novel series of carbohydrate-based 1,5-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole benzenesulfonamides. The key step of our synthesis is the regioselective Huisgen's 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction (1,3-DCR) from carbohydrate azide substrates and 4-ethynylbenzenesulfonamide using a ruthenium-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (RuAAC). Our findings identified a number of triazole inhibitors (compounds 18, 19, 21-23, and 26) that block CA IX activity with inhibition constants less than 10 nM. One inhibitor (compound 17) possessed very good selectivity for CA IX over off-target CAs. These CA inhibitors have developmental potential to selectively target cancer cells, leading to cell death.