How do I assess similarities between molecules?
What is the similarity principle? The similarity principle is one of the key concepts in drug design. It implies that…
Abstract
Rapamycin, a well-known macrocyclic natural product with myriad biological activities, has been the subject of intense study since its first isolation and characterisation over five decades ago.
Rapamycin has been found to adopt a single conformation in the solid state (both when protein bound and uncomplexed) and exists as a mixture of two conformations in solution. Early work established that the major conformer in solution is the trans amide isomer but left the minor conformer mostly uncharacterised. Since that time, it has been widely accepted that the minor conformer of rapamycin is the cis amide, based solely on analogy to FK-506, another potent immunosuppressive compound with some shared key structural elements.
To address this long-standing and unresolved question, the solution structure of the minor conformer of rapamycin was investigated using a combination of NMR techniques and computational methods and determined to be a trans amide species with rotation about the ester linkage.
More publications to browse
How can I predict toxicity in drug discovery?
The importance of predicting toxicity early in drug development Highlighting safety and toxicity early in the drug development process is…
Why don’t my QSAR models work?
Why QSAR models matter in drug discovery Before we start troubleshooting, let’s remember why we build and run these models…
