Small Change for Big Improvement: Halogen Bonds and Drug
Discovery Jan. 18, 2013 — Halogen bonding has been applied in
crystal engineering, materials research, and nanotechnology for
some time. Scientists from the Heidelberg Institute for
Theoretical Studies (HITS) and the Czech Academy of Science in
Prague have now developed a new tool to use halogen bonds for
drug discovery applications. Halogen chemistry has been
exploited by medicinal chemists for nearly 70 years. To date,
halogens were regarded useful for optimization of so-called
ADMET properties (the acronym stands for absorption,
distribution, metabolism, excretion, toxicity) -- they improve
oral absorption and facilitate crossing biological barriers by
prospective drugs, they are useful for filling small hydrophobic
cavities present in many protein targets, and they prolong
lifetime of the drug. In short: They make compounds of interest
more drug-like. However, direct interactions mediated by halogen
atoms have been much ignored in pre-clinical drug