Novel 2-Hydroselenonicotinonitriles and Selenopheno[2, 3-b]pyridines: Efficient Synthesis, Molecular Docking-DFT Modeling, and Antimicrobial Assessment

Oral bioavailability measurements in rats for over 1100 drug candidates studied at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) have allowed us to analyze the relative importance of molecular properties considered to influence that drug property. Reduced molecular flexibility, as measured by the number of rotatable bonds, and low polar surface area or total hydrogen bond count (sum of donors and acceptors) are found to be important predictors of good oral bioavailability, independent of molecular weight. That on average both the number of rotatable bonds and polar surface area or hydrogen bond count tend to increase with molecular weight may in part explain the success of the molecular weight parameter in predicting oral bioavailability. The commonly applied molecular weight cutoff at 500 does not itself significantly separate compounds with poor oral bioavailability from those with acceptable values in this extensive data set. Our observations suggest that compounds which meet only the two criteria of (1) 10 or fewer rotatable bonds and (2) polar surface area equal to or less than 140 A(2) (or 12 or fewer H-bond donors and acceptors) will have a high probability of good oral bioavailability in the rat. Data sets for the artificial membrane permeation rate and for clearance in the rat were also examined. Reduced polar surface area correlates better with increased permeation rate than does lipophilicity (C log P), and increased rotatable bond count has a negative effect on the permeation rate. A threshold permeation rate is a prerequisite of oral bioavailability. The rotatable bond count does not correlate with the data examined here for the in vivo clearance rate in the rat.

Molecular polar surface area (PSA), i.e., surface belonging to polar atoms, is a descriptor that was shown to correlate well with passive molecular transport through membranes and, therefore, allows prediction of transport properties of drugs. The calculation of PSA, however, is rather time-consuming because of the necessity to generate a reasonable 3D molecular geometry and the calculation of the surface itself. A new approach for the calculation of the PSA is presented here, based on the summation of tabulated surface contributions of polar fragments. The method, termed topological PSA (TPSA), provides results which are practically identical with the 3D PSA (the correlation coefficient between 3D PSA and fragment-based TPSA for 34 810 molecules from the World Drug Index is 0.99), while the computation speed is 2-3 orders of magnitude faster. The new methodology may, therefore, be used for fast bioavailability screening of virtual libraries having millions of molecules. This article describes the new methodology and shows the results of validation studies based on sets of published absorption data, including intestinal absorption, Caco-2 monolayer penetration, and blood-brain barrier penetration.