Synthesis and Applications of Small Molecule Libraries.

One of the initial steps in the development of therapeutic agents is the identification of lead compounds that bind to the receptor or enzyme target of interest. Many analogs of these lead compounds are then synthesized to define the key recognition elements for maximal activity. In general, many compounds must be evaluated in both the lead identification and optimization steps. Increasing burdens have been placed on these efforts due to the large number of new therapeutic targets that continue to be identified thorough modern molecular biology methods.1 To address this demand, very powerful chemical and biological methods have been developed for the generation of large combinatorial libraries of peptides2 and oligonucleotides3 that are then screened against a receptor or enzyme to identify high-affinity ligands or potent inhibitors, respectively. While these studies have clearly demonstrated the power of library synthesis and screening strategies, peptides and oligonucleotides generally have poor oral activities and rapid in vivo clearance;4 therefore their utility as bioavailable therapeutic agents is often limited. Due to the favorable pharmacokinetic properties of many small organic molecules (<600-700 molecular weight),5 the design, synthesis, and evaluation of libraries of these compounds6 has rapidly become a major frontier in organic chemistry. Lorin A. Thompson was born in Lexington, KY, in 1970. He received the Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1992 where he worked under the guidance of Joseph Desimone. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in the laboratory of Jonathan Ellman at UC Berkeley where he is the 1994 Glaxo-Wellcome fellow. His research interests include the development of synthetic methodology for organic library construction.