Host-guest chemistry: combinatorial receptors.

A combinatorial approach to receptor design provides an expedient method to discover the most effective host-guest complexes from within a library. Recent advances focus on generation of larger libraries, facile detection, combinatorial catalysis and the formation of dynamic receptor libraries.     

Combinatorially-generated library of 6-fluoroquinolone analogs as potential novel antitubercular agents: a chemometric and molecular modeling assessment

The virtual combinatorial chemistry approach as a methodology for generating chemical libraries of structurally-similar analogs in a virtual environment was employed for building a general mixed virtual combinatorial library with a total of 53.871 6-FQ structural analogs, introducing the real synthetic pathways of three well known 6-FQ inhibitors. The druggability properties of the generated combinatorial 6-FQs were assessed using an in-house developed drug-likeness filter integrating the Lipinski/Veber rule-sets. The compounds recognized as drug-like were used as an external set for prediction of the biological activity values using a neural-networks (NN) model based on an experimentally-determined set of active 6-FQs. Furthermore, a subset of compounds was extracted from the pool of drug-like 6-FQs, with predicted biological activity, and subsequently used in virtual screening (VS) campaign combining pharmacophore modeling and molecular docking studies. This complex scheme, a powerful combination of chemometric and molecular modeling approaches provided novel QSAR guidelines that could aid in the further lead development of 6-FQs agents.     

Chemical biology of dynamic combinatorial libraries

Dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC) is a recently introduced supramolecular approach to generate libraries of chemical compounds based on reversible exchange processes. The building elements are spontaneously and reversibly assembled to virtually encompass all possible combinations, allowing for simple one-step generation of complex libraries. The method has been applied to a variety of combinatorial systems, ranging from synthetic models to materials science and drug discovery, and enables the establishment of adaptive processes due to the dynamic interchange of the library constituents and its evolution toward the best fit to the target. In particular, it has the potential to become a useful tool in the direct screening of ligands to a chosen receptor without extensive prior knowledge of the site structure, and several biological systems have been targeted. In the vast field of glycoscience, the concept may find special perspective in response to the highly complex nature of carbohydrate-protein interactions. This chapter summarises studies that have been performed using DCC in biological systems, with special emphasis on glycoscience.     

Combinatorial search of substituted beta-cyclodextrins for phosphatase-like activity.

Thirteen per-6-akylamino-6-deoxy-beta-cyclodextrin libraries (beta-CD libraries) were generated by a solution-phase combinatorial synthesis starting from per-6-iodo-6-deoxy-beta-CD and different combinations of eleven individual amine nucleophiles. Certain libraries showed the ability to hydrolyzep-nitrophenyl phosphate in the presence of Zn2+.     

Small molecule biaryl FSH receptor agonists. Part 1: Lead discovery via encoded combinatorial synthesis

High-throughput screening of two million compounds in 37 distinct encoded combinatorial libraries using FSH receptor transfected cells provided small molecule agonists such as 1 (EC(50)=3 microM) and 2 (EC(50)=3.9 microM), based on which a focused combinatorial library with a total of 31372 compounds was designed, synthesized, and screened to reveal 72 novel biaryl FSH receptor agonists such as 8a-c as well as a unique combinatorial SAR.     

Structure‐based design of combinatorial mutagenesis libraries

The development of protein variants with improved properties (thermostability, binding affinity, catalytic activity, etc.) has greatly benefited from the application of high‐throughput screens evaluating large, diverse combinatorial libraries. At the same time, since only a very limited portion of sequence space can be experimentally constructed and tested, an attractive possibility is to use computational protein design to focus libraries on a productive portion of the space. We present a general‐purpose method, called “Structure‐based Optimization of Combinatorial Mutagenesis ” (SOCoM ), which can optimize arbitrarily large combinatorial mutagenesis libraries directly based on structural energies of their constituents. SOCoM chooses both positions and substitutions, employing a combinatorial optimization framework based on library‐averaged energy potentials in order to avoid explicitly modeling every variant in every possible library. In case study applications to green fluorescent protein, β‐lactamase, and lipase A, SOCoM optimizes relatively small, focused libraries whose variants achieve energies comparable to or better than previous library design efforts, as well as larger libraries (previously not designable by structure‐based methods) whose variants cover greater diversity while still maintaining substantially better energies than would be achieved by representative random library approaches. By allowing the creation of large‐scale combinatorial libraries based on structural calculations, SOCoM promises to increase the scope of applicability of computational protein design and improve the hit rate of discovering beneficial variants. While designs presented here focus on variant stability (predicted by total energy), SOCoM can readily incorporate other structure‐based assessments, such as the energy gap between alternative conformational or bound states.     

Computational bioinorganic chemistry. Part III. The tools of the trade: from high-level ab initio calculations to structural bioinformatics

Having long focused on the electronic-structural aspects of metalloenzymes and their synthetic models, Abhik is currently exploring a number of synthetic problems related to self-assembly processes, dynamic combinatorial libraries, and fluorine chemistry.     

Design, synthesis and preliminary biological evaluation of a focused combinatorial library of stereodiverse carbohydrate-scaffold-based peptidomimetics

A focused combinatorial library of 126 mimetics of the RGD sequence based on sugar scaffolds have been rationally constructed using molecular modeling, with a particular emphasis on the stereodiversity of the library. A liquid phase, mix and divide synthesis was used, active compounds being identified by using orthogonal libraries and recursive deconvolution strategies.     

3-Azido-3-deoxy-glycopyranoside derivatives as scaffolds for the synthesis of carbohydrate-based universal pharmacophore mapping libraries

The regiospecific syntheses of six monosaccharide scaffolds, 1-6, containing a carboxylic acid, an azido and a free hydroxyl group were accomplished through the utilization of a key intermediate, namely, methyl 3-azido-3-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside (10). Scaffold 2 was also used in generating combinatorial libraries using solid-phase methodologies.     

Cocaine detoxification by combinatorially substituted beta-cyclodextrin libraries

Per-6-substituted- and A,C,E(F)-tri-6-substituted-6-deoxy-beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) libraries were generated using solution-phase combinatorial chemistry techniques starting from the corresponding iodo precursors and different combinations of individual amine nucleophiles. Using a high throughput electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS) screen to monitor the hydrolysis of cocaine, certain libraries showed the ability to specifically hydrolyze the methyl ester of cocaine, with the most active per-6-substituted beta-CD library I producing complete hydrolysis in 24h. The cocaine hydrolytic activity in this series showed structure-activity relationships which appeared to involve specific interaction between the amine side chains and the cocaine molecule. Comparison of the composition of the most active per-6-substiuted beta-CD libraries and A,C,E(F)-tri-6-substituted-6-deoxy-beta-CD libraries (I and XV) showed three common side chains (3, 4, and 5), suggesting that active side chains in the tri-substituted beta-CD library might be predicted from evaluation of the more easily prepared per-6-substituted-6-deoxy-beta-CD series.     

Exploration of Natural and Artificial Sequence Spaces: Towards a Functional Remodeling of Membrane-bound Cytochrome P450

Two complementary methods are described that associate in vitro and in vivo steps to generate sequence diversity by segment directed saturated mutagenesis and family shuffling. A high-throughput DNA chip-based procedure for the characterization and potentially the equalization of combinatorial libraries is also presented. Using these approaches, two combinatorial libraries of cytochrome P450 variants derived from the CYPlA subfamily were constructed and their sequence diversity characterized. The results of functional screening using high-throughput tools for the characterization of membrane P450-catalyzed activities, suggest that the 204-214 sequence segment of human CYPlAl is not critical for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon recognition, as was hypothesized from previous data. Moreover, mutations in this segment do not alter the discrimination between alkoxyresorufins, which, for all tested mutants, remained similar to that of wild-type CYP1A1. In contrast, the constructed CYPlAl-CYPlA2 mosaic structures, containing multiple crossovers, exhibit a wide range of substrate preference and regioselectivity. These mosaic structures also discriminate between closely related alkoxyresorufin substrates. These results open the way to global high-throughput analysis of structure-function relationships using combinatorial libraries of enzymes together with libraries of structurally related substrates.     

PNA-Based Dynamic Combinatorial Libraries (PDCL) and screening of lectins

Selections from dynamic combinatorial libraries (DCL) benefit from the dynamic nature of the library that can change constitution upon addition of a selection pressure, such as ligands binding to a protein. This technology has been predominantly used with small molecules interacting with each other through reversible covalent interaction. However, application of this technology in biomedical research and drug discovery has been limited by the reversibility of covalent exchange and the analytical deconvolution of small molecule fragments. Here we report a supramolecular approach based on the use of a constant short PNA tag to direct the combinatorial pairing of fragment. This PNA tag yields fast exchange kinetics, while still delivering the benefits of cooperativity, and provides favourable properties for analytical deconvolution by MALDI. A selection from >6,000 assemblies of glycans (mono-, di-, tri-saccharides) targeting AFL, a lectin from pathogenic fungus, yielded a 95 nM assembly, nearly three orders of magnitude better in affinity than the corresponding glycan alone (41 µM).     

Mixed-bed chromatography as a way to resolve peculiar protein fractionation situations

Mixed-bed chromatography is based on the use of multiple sorbents mixed together and packed in a single column. Solid-phase combinatorial libraries are a current example of mixed-bed chromatography with a large number of immobilized affinity ligands each of them attached to a different bead. They have been repeatedly reported to reduce the dynamic protein concentration range from biological extracts when used in large overloading conditions. By that way trace proteins can easily be enhanced and analyzed. When mixed libraries of ligands are used in under-saturation conditions they constitute a generic way to remove minor impurity traces still present in even highly purified biological product. Whereas ligand libraries are generally used in a neutral environment for the capturing phase, they can also be used in acidic or alkaline conditions with specific advantages due to the modulation of affinity constants. Mixed-bed cascades involving affinity libraries or ion exchangers are also approaches allowing protein fractionation. This review reports various applications of mixed-bed chromatography related to protein fractionation not only for proteomics investigations, but also for preparative purposes.     

Mass spectrometric analysis of combinatorial peptide libraries derived from the tandem repeat unit of MUC2 mucin.

Four 19-member synthetic peptide libraries, based on the TX1TX2T epitope motif of the mucin-2 gastrointestinal glycoprotein (MUC2) and ranging in peptide length from dipeptides to 15-mers (XT, TXT, TQTXT and KVTPTPTPTGTQTXT), were synthesized by combinatorial solid phase peptide synthesis using the portioning-mixing combinatorial approach, and analysed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry at different (1000-10000) resolutions. Most of the components of the individual libraries could be easily identified in a single-stage molecular mass screening experiment. The resolving power of the instrument becomes an important factor above 800-1000 Da molecular mass, when predominantly multiply charged molecular ions are formed. Approaches to the identification of isobars (glutamine/lysine), isomers leucine/isoleucine) and sequence variations by tandem mass spectrometry, and/or by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry are outlined.     

Novel miniaturized systems in high-throughput screening

High-throughput screening (HTS) using high-density microplates is the primary method for the discovery of novel lead candidate molecules. However, new strategies that eschew 2D microplate technology, including technologies that enable mass screening of targets against large combinatorial libraries, have the potential to greatly increase throughput and decrease unit cost. This review presents an overview of state-of-the-art microplate-based HTS technology and includes a discussion of emerging miniaturized systems for HTS. We focus on new methods of encoding combinatorial libraries that promise throughputs of as many as 100,000 compounds per second.     

Identification of affinity ligands for protein purification from synthetic chemical combinatorial libraries

A method to screen combinatorial libraries for the development of selective ligands for protein affinity chromatographic purification is described. The method is based on the application of parallel combinatorial libraries, and it has several potential advantages. The screening procedure is simple and straightforward, and it does not require the chemical derivatization of the target proteins or even that the target protein be pure. The experiment can also be designed to select binders that are less likely to cause protein denaturation. Feasibility of this approach is demonstrated with a model study of the chromatographic purification of bovine albumin serum (BSA) and Avidin.     

Dynamic diversity and small-molecule evolution: a new paradigm for ligand identification.

A longstanding goal of organic, medicinal and bioorganic chemists has been the discovery of efficient methods for designing or identifying biologically active compounds. Recently, several groups have reported using the directed evolution of combinatorial libraries as a new method of identifying compounds capable of binding tightly to a target molecule. Although significant development remains to be done, the initial results suggest that dynamic diversity and associated selection methods will prove to be valuable additions to the drug-discovery process.     

T-cell epitope prediction with combinatorial peptide libraries.

T cell receptors (TCR) recognize antigenic peptides in complex with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules and this trimolecular interaction initiates antigen-specific signaling pathways in the responding T lymphocytes. For the study of autoimmune diseases and vaccine development, it is important to identify peptides (epitopes) that can stimulate a given TCR. The use of combinatorial peptide libraries has recently been introduced as a powerful tool for this purpose. A combinatorial library of n-mer peptides is a set of complex mixtures each characterized by one position fixed to be a specified amino acid and all other positions randomized. A given TCR can be fingerprinted by screening a variety of combinatorial libraries using a proliferation assay. Here, we present statistical models for elucidating the recognition profile of a TCR using combinatorial library proliferation assay data and known MHC binding data.     

DNA display II. Genetic manipulation of combinatorial chemistry libraries for small-molecule evolution

Biological in vitro selection techniques, such as RNA aptamer methods and mRNA display, have proven to be powerful approaches for engineering molecules with novel functions. These techniques are based on iterative amplification of biopolymer libraries, interposed by selection for a desired functional property. Rare, promising compounds are enriched over multiple generations of a constantly replicating molecular population, and subsequently identified. The restriction of such methods to DNA, RNA, and polypeptides precludes their use for small-molecule discovery. To overcome this limitation, we have directed the synthesis of combinatorial chemistry libraries with DNA "genes," making possible iterative amplification of a nonbiological molecular species. By differential hybridization during the course of a traditional split-and-pool combinatorial synthesis, the DNA sequence of each gene is read out and translated into a unique small-molecule structure. This "chemical translation" provides practical access to synthetic compound populations 1 million-fold more complex than state-of-the-art combinatorial libraries. We carried out an in vitro selection experiment (iterated chemical translation, selection, and amplification) on a library of 10(6) nonnatural peptides. The library converged over three generations to a high-affinity protein ligand. The ability to genetically encode diverse classes of synthetic transformations enables the in vitro selection and potential evolution of an essentially limitless collection of compound families, opening new avenues to drug discovery, catalyst design, and the development of a materials science "biology."     

Synthesis of Polyaminooligonucleotides and Their Combinatorial Libraries

Abstract

A synthesis of phosphoramidites of 2′-deoxyadenosine and 2′-deoxyguanosine carrying a protected spermine moiety at N-6 and N-2 positions respectively is described. An approach to analyse properties of polyaminooligonucleotides using their synthetic combinatorial libraries is described and discussed. A synthesis of a polyaminooligonucleotide combinatorial library was carried out and the analysis of the library clearly showed that the presence of spermine moieties in oligodeoxyribonucleotides increases stability of their complexes.