Discovery of novel VEGFR-2 inhibitors. Part 5: Exploration of diverse hinge-binding fragments via core-refining approach

Pathological angiogenesis plays a critical role in numerous diseases including malignancy. VEGFR-2 is the central regulators in angiogenesis and has become a promising target for anticancer drug design. We have identified a novel biphenyl-aryl urea incorporated with salicyladoxime (BPS-7) as potent VEGFR-2 inhibitor. As a continuation to our previous research, various aromatic-heterocyclic were introduced as hinge-binding fragment via a core-refining approach. Interestingly, many compounds exhibited comparable VEGFR-2 inhibition to Sorafenib. In particular, 12e and 12o displayed excellent VEGFR-2 inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values of 0.50 nM and 0.79 nM, respectively. Several title compounds showed considerable antiproliferative activity against A549 and SMMC-7721 cells. In addition, molecular docking was performed to rationalize the efficiency of the better compounds. These results will be instructive for further inhibitor design and optimization.