Zhang_2023_Eur.J.Med.Chem_257_115502

SuFEx click chemistry has been a method for the rapid synthesis of functional molecules with desirable properties. Here, we demonstrated a workflow that allows for in situ synthesis of sulfonamide inhibitors based on SuFEx reaction for high-throughput testing of their cholinesterase activity. According to fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD), sulfonyl fluorides [R-SO(2)F] with moderate activity were identified as fragment hits, rapidly diversified into 102 analogs in SuFEx reactions, and the sulfonamides were directly screened to yield drug-like inhibitors with 70-fold higher potency (IC(50) = 94 nM). Moreover, the improved molecule J8-A34 can ameliorate cognitive function in Abeta(1-42)-induced mouse model. Since this SuFEx linkage reaction succeeds on picomole scale for direct screening, this methodology can accelerate the development of robust biological probes and drug candidates.