Design and synthesis of piperidine farnesyltransferase inhibitors with reduced glucuronidation potential

The design and synthesis of a novel piperidine series of farnesyltransferase (FTase) inhibitors with reduced potential for metabolic glucuronidation are described. The various substitution and exchange of the phenyl group at the C-2 position of the previously described 2-(4-hydroxy)phenyl-3-nitropiperidine 1a (FTase IC(50)=5.4nM) resulted in metabolically stable compounds with potent FTase inhibition (14a IC(50)=4.3nM, 20a IC(50)=3.0nM, and 50a IC(50)=16nM). Molecular modeling studies of these compounds complexed with FTase and farnesyl pyrophosphate are also described.