Fragment screening is frequently used for hit identification. However, there was no report starting from a small fragment for the development of an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, despite the number of ALK inhibitors reported. We began our research with the fragment hit F-1 and our subsequent linker design, and its docking analysis yielded novel cis-1,2,2-trisubstituted cyclopropane 1. The fragment information was integrated with a structure-based approach to improve upon the selectivity over tropomyosin receptor kinase A, leading to the potent and highly selective ALK inhibitor, 4-trifluoromethylphenoxy-cis-1,2,2-trisubstituted cyclopropane 12. This work shows that fragments become a powerful tool for both lead generation and optimization, such as the improvement of selectivity, by combining them with a structure-based drug design approach, resulting in the fast and efficient development of a novel, potent, and highly selective compound.
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