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A new class of peptidomimetic C5a receptor antagonists characterized by C-terminal amino acids with hydrophobic side chains is presented. Systematic optimization of the first hits led to JPE1375 (36), which was intensively characterized in vitro and in vivo. Compound 36 exhibits high microsomal stability and receptor specificity and is highly active in an immune complex mediated peritonitis model (reverse passive Arthus reaction) in mice.

A series of novel, highly potent αvβ3 antagonists based on a thiophene scaffold and containing an acylguanidine as an Arg-mimetic is described. A number of structural features, such as cyclic versus open guanidine and a variety of lipophilic side chains, carbamates, sulfonamides and β-amino acids were explored with respect to inhibition of αvβ3 mediated cell adhesion and selectivity versus αIIbβ3 binding. In addition, compound 19 was found to be active in the TPTX model of osteoporosis.

The synthesis of a series of RGD mimetic α V β 3 antagonists containing a hydantoin scaffold is shown. The results demonstrate some of the structural requirements for the design of selective α V β 3 antagonists (vs α IIb β 3 ) in terms of the Arg-mimetic, the distance between N- and C-terminus and the lipophilic side chain.

The preparation of 9-Fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl(Fmoc) protected building blocks for the synthesis of polyamide nucleic acids (PNAs) is described. Use of 4-Methoxyphenyldiphenylmethyl (Mmt)-protecting groups for the exocyclic amino function of the nucleobases enhances the solubility of the monomers and allows final deprotection by mild acid treatment. The novel synthetic route is exemplified by the synthesis of heptameric and octameric PNAs.

The preparation of novel monomethoxytrityl (Mmt) protected monomers for the synthesis of polyamide nucleic acids (PNAs) is described. The use of base-labile acyl-type nucleobase protecting groups and of a succinyl-linked solid-support offers a synthetic strategy similar to standard oligonucleotide synthesis conditions. This strategy has been successfully applied for the synthesis of PNAs of mixed base sequence.

A detailed structure-activity relationship of C 2 -symmetric diol inhibitors of HIV-1 protease leads to inhibitor 6 (HOE/BAY 793) which is outstanding in the inhibition of the enzyme and in the inhibition of viral replication in HIV infected cell culture (IC 50 : 0.3 nM; EC 50 : 3 nM). There are well defined steric requirements for the design of the side chains P1–P3 of the inhibitors. In addition, all three side chains need to be lipophilic. While the enzyme tolerates hydrophilic substituents in some cases, drastic reductions in anti-HIV activity are observed in cell culture, most likely due to insufficient cell penetration.

DesArg 9 -D-Arg[Hyp 3 ,Thi 5 ,D-Tic 7 ,Oic 8 ]BK is a potent and stable B 1 bradykinin (BK) receptor antagonist which was one order of magnitude more potent (IC 50 1.2 × 10 −8 M) in the isolated rabbit aorta than the known selective B 1 BK receptor antagonist, desArg 9 -[Leu 8 ]BK (IC 50 1.1 × 10 −7 M). DesArg 9 -D-Arg[Hyp 3 ,Thi 5 ,D-Tic 7 ,Oic 8 ]BK is the desArg 10 derivative of Hoe 140, a new, potent, stable, selective and long-acting B 2 BK receptor antagonist. In B 2 organ preparation it was three orders of magnitude less potent than Hoe140. Since it is potent and stable it could contribute to the investigation of B 1 BK receptor function.