Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) chemists have created a new collection of molecular compounds and begun testing them as potential leads in the search for new drugs. Using an innovative process called Accelerated SuFEx Click Chemistry (ASCC), the researchers were able to synthesize over 150 new compounds, including derivatives of complex natural molecules, in a matter of days. This represents a significant improvement in efficiency compared to traditional methods, which could take months to generate and purify a similar assortment of molecules.
The researchers tested these new compounds on cancer cells and drug-resistant strains of bacteria, and found several that show promise for development as antibiotics and cancer therapies. For example, two of the new molecules were able to kill cancer cells that typically resist standard chemotherapy, and others were effective against dapsone-resistant bacteria. These findings, published in Chemical Science, suggest that ASCC could help chemists reengineer complex antibiotics to overcome pathogens' hardened defenses.
Looking ahead, the CSHL team plans to continue using ASCC to explore new frontiers of drug discovery and refine their leads into potential drug candidates. They also hope that other researchers will adopt this technology and integrate it into their own drug discovery platforms, further accelerating the process of finding new and effective treatments.