1,3-oxazol-4-ylphosphonium salts as new non-peptide inhibitors of furin

Abstract

A series of novel triphenylphosphonium derivatives of 1,3-oxazole containing at C2 and C5-positions electron withdrawing or electron-donating groups were synthesized and characterized by1H,31P NMR and IR spectroscopy, element analysis and chromato-mass spectrometry. These compounds were found to be a new class of non-peptide inhibitors of furin. Depending on the chemical structure, they inactivated enzyme at micromolar level by mechanism of competitive, non-competitive or mixed inhibition. Evaluation of the synthesized derivatives as furin inhibitors showed that among the triphenylphosphonium salts studied by us, oxazole 12 containing 2,4-dichlorophenyl-in the C2-position and MeS-group at C5 is the most active (Ki = 1.57 μM) competitive inhibitor of furin. Our results provided evidence that chemical modification of 1,3-oxazole-4-yl-triphenylphosphonium salts may be useful for developing new more potent and selective inhibitors of furin.