New Breakthrough: An Innovative Way to Boost Drug Discovery

The researchers presented a sulfur fluoride exchange reagent (SuFEx) that allows highly controlled production of essential sulfur-based molecules, including sulfenamides, sulfonimides, and sulfoximines, compounds essential to the pharmaceutical industry that “have been difficult to synthesize with the required chemical precision.”

The innovative reagent, t-BuSF, uses a so-called “stress release reactivity” to achieve a level of efficiency and selectivity that was previously unattainable, paving the way for the development of more effective drugs and broader applications in medical research.

“Sulfur-based compounds, including those developed using the new approaches, are known to have favorable physicochemical properties that make them ideal candidates for drug development,” said Justin Lobchuk, lead author and associate member of Moffitt’s Drug Discovery Division. “The ability to rapidly synthesize these compounds and control their chemical properties opens up new possibilities for designing targeted therapies that fight cancer cells more effectively while minimizing side effects.”

In the study, the researchers were able to explore previously inaccessible chemical space within the sulfur group, leading to the creation of more than 70 new chemical compounds, many of which have immediate applications in medicinal chemistry and the development of new pharmaceutical agents.

Lobchuk revealed that this study has already been used to significantly improve the scalable formulation of DFV890, an investigational compound currently in clinical trials at Moffitt for spinal cord disease.

Source: Medical Express