Tauber, Carolin; Wamser, Rebekka; Arkona, Christoph; Tuegend, Marisa; Abdul Aziz, Umer Bin; Pach, Szymon; Schulz, Robert; Jochmans, Dirk; Wolber, Gerhard; Neyts, Johan; Rademann, Joerg published their research in Angewandte Chemie, International Edition in 2021. The article was titled 《Chemical Evolution of Antivirals Against Enterovirus D68 through Protein-Templated Knoevenagel Reactions》.Name: 3-Oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile The article contains the following contents:
The generation of bioactive mols. from inactive precursors is a crucial step in the chem. evolution of life, however, mechanistic insights into this aspect of abiogenesis are scarce. Here, we investigate the protein-catalyzed formation of antivirals by the 3C-protease of enterovirus D68. The enzyme induces aldol condensations yielding inhibitors with antiviral activity in cells. Kinetic and thermodn. analyses reveal that the bioactivity emerges from a dynamic reaction system including inhibitor formation, alkylation of the protein target by the inhibitors, and competitive addition of non-protein nucleophiles to the inhibitors. The most active antivirals are slowly reversible inhibitors with elongated target residence times. The study reveals first examples for the chem. evolution of bio-actives through protein-catalyzed, non-enzymic C-C couplings. The discovered mechanism works under physiol. conditions and might constitute a native process of drug development. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 3-Oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile(cas: 614-16-4Name: 3-Oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile)
3-Oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile(cas: 614-16-4) has been used to produce 2-benzoyl-3-furan-2-yl-acrylonitrile. It is an active methylene compound, useful in heterocyclic synthesis, e.g. polyfunctional pyridines and pyrimidines.Name: 3-Oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile
Referemce:
Nitrile – Wikipedia,
Nitriles – Chemistry LibreTexts