Opportunities for Tapping into Three-Dimensional Chemical Space through a Quaternary Carbon

J Med Chem. 2020 Nov 25;63(22):13291-13315. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c00829. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Abstract

A quaternary carbon bears four other carbon substituents or combination of four non-hydrogen substituents at four vertices of a tetrahedron. The spirocyclic quaternary carbon positioned at the center of a bioactive molecule offers conformational rigidity, which in turn reduces the penalty for conformational entropy. The quaternary carbon is a predominant feature of natural product structures and has been associated with more effective and selective binding to target proteins compared to planar compounds with a high sp2 count. The presence of a quaternary carbon stereocenter allows the exploration of novel chemical space to obtain new molecules with enhanced three-dimensionality. These characteristics, coupled to an increasing awareness to develop sp3-rich molecules, boosted utility of quaternary carbon stereocenters in bioactive compounds. It is hoped that this Perspective will inspire the chemist to utilize quaternary carbon stereocenters to enhance potency, selectivity, and other drug-like properties.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carbon / chemistry*
  • Drug Design*
  • Drug Discovery / methods*
  • Drug Discovery / trends
  • Humans
  • Molecular Conformation*
  • Molecular Structure
  • Small Molecule Libraries / chemistry
  • Stereoisomerism

Substances

  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • Carbon