Discovery and Optimization of a Series of Pyrimidine-Based Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) Inhibitors through Fragment Screening, Structure-Based Design, and Parallel Synthesis.
Shipe, W.D., Sharik, S.S., Barrow, J.C., McGaughey, G.B., Theberge, C.R., Uslaner, J.M., Yan, Y., Renger, J.J., Smith, S.M., Coleman, P.J., Cox, C.D.(2015) J Med Chem 58: 7888-7894
- PubMed: 26378882 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b00983
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
5C1W, 5C28, 5C29, 5C2A, 5C2E, 5C2H - PubMed Abstract: 
Screening of a fragment library for PDE10A inhibitors identified a low molecular weight pyrimidine hit with PDE10A Ki of 8700 nM and LE of 0.59. Initial optimization by catalog followed by iterative parallel synthesis guided by X-ray cocrystal structures resulted in rapid potency improvements with minimal loss of ligand efficiency. Compound 15 h, with PDE10A Ki of 8.2 pM, LE of 0.49, and >5000-fold selectivity over other PDEs, fully attenuates MK-801-induced hyperlocomotor activity after ip dosing.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Departments of †Discovery Chemistry, ‡Chemistry Modeling and Informatics, §Neuroscience, and ∥Structural Chemistry, Merck Research Laboratories , West Point, Pennsylvania 19486, United States.