The evaluation of a series of aminoisoindoles as β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) inhibitors and the discovery of a clinical candidate drug for Alzheimer's disease, (S)-32 (AZD3839), are described. The improvement in permeability properties by the introduction of fluorine adjacent to the amidine moiety, resulting in in vivo brain reduction of Aβ40, is discussed. Due to the basic nature of these compounds, they displayed affinity for the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) ion channel. Different ways to reduce hERG inhibition and increase hERG margins for this series are described, culminating in (S)-16 and (R)-41 showing large in vitro margins with BACE1 cell IC(50) values of 8.6 and 0.16 nM, respectively, and hERG IC(50) values of 16 and 2.8 μM, respectively. Several compounds were advanced into pharmacodynamic studies and demonstrated significant reduction of β-amyloid peptides in mouse brain following oral dosing.

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Implementation of derivatized carbohydrates as C(2)-symmetric HIV-1 protease inhibitors has previously been reported. With the objective of improving the anti-HIV activity of such compounds, we synthesized a series of fluoro substituted P1/P1' analogues. These compounds were evaluated for antiviral activity toward both wild type and mutant virus. The potency of the analogues in blocking HIV-1 protease was moderate, with K(i) values ranging from 1 to 7 nM. Nonetheless, compared to the parent nonfluorous inhibitors, a majority of the compounds exhibited improved antiviral activity, for example the 3-fluorobenzyl derivative 9b, which had a K(i) value of 7.13 nM and displayed one of the most powerful antiviral activities in the cellular assay of the series. Our results strongly suggest that fluoro substitution can substantially improve antiviral activity. The X-ray crystal structures of two of the fluoro substituted inhibitors (9a and 9f) cocrystallized with HIV-1 protease are discussed.