Novel paramagnetic AT1 receptor antagonists

Novel paramagnetic selective angiotensin AT(1) receptor antagonists (sartans) bearing nitroxides (3, 4) have been prepared and their pharmacology evaluated in vitro as well as in vivo. Compounds 3, 4 proved to be effective sartans with pK(B) estimates in the range 6.2-9.1. In addition, the sodium salt (11) of 4 (R = Bu) is able to protect against vascular injury in hypertensive rats as determined by its ability to attenuate the development of intimal thickening caused by balloon injury of the carotid artery.     

Deciding whether to go with the flow: evaluating the merits of flow reactors for synthesis

The fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries are transforming how their products are manufactured, where economically favorable, from traditional batchwise processes to continuous flow. This evolution is impacting synthetic chemistry on all scales-from the laboratory to full production. This Review discusses the relative merits of batch and micro flow reactors for performing synthetic chemistry in the laboratory.     

Hidden hydrophobicity impacts polymer immunogenicity

Antibodies against poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) have been found to be the culprit of side reactions and efficacy loss of a number of PEGylated drugs. Fundamental mechanisms of PEG immunogenicity and design principles for PEG alternatives still have not been fully explored. By using hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) under varied salt conditions, we reveal the “hidden” hydrophobicity of those polymers which are generally considered as hydrophilic. A correlation between the hidden hydrophobicity of a polymer and its polymer immunogenicity is observed when this polymer is conjugated with an immunogenic protein. Such a correlation of hidden hydrophobicity vs. immunogenicity for a polymer also applies to corresponding polymer–protein conjugates. Atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results show a similar trend. Based on polyzwitterion modification and with this HIC technique, we are able to produce extremely low-immunogenic protein conjugates as their hydrophilicity is pushed to the limit and their hydrophobicity is eliminated, breaking the current barriers of eliminating anti-drug and anti-polymer antibodies.

The hidden hydrophobicity of conventional polymers widely considered as hydrophilic is closely related to their immunogenicity when they are conjugated to immunogenic proteins.