Intracerebroventricular injection of angiotensin IV, a ligand of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP), has been shown to improve cognitive functions in several animal models. Consequently, IRAP is considered a potential target for treatment of cognitive disorders. To identify nonpeptidic IRAP inhibitors, we adapted an established enzymatic assay based on membrane preparations from Chinese hamster ovary cells and a synthetic peptide-like substrate for high-throughput screening purposes. The 384-well microplate-based absorbance assay was used to screen a diverse set of 10,500 compounds for their inhibitory capacity of IRAP. The assay performance was robust with Z-values ranging from 0.81 to 0.91, and the screen resulted in 23 compounds that displayed greater than 60% inhibition at a compound concentration of 10M. After hit confirmation experiments, purity analysis, and promiscuity investigations, three structurally different compounds were considered particularly interesting as starting points for the development of small-molecule-based IRAP inhibitors. After resynthesis, all three compounds confirmed low M activity and were shown to be rapidly reversible. Additional characterization included activity in a fluorescence-based orthogonal assay and in the presence of a nonionic detergent and a reducing agent, respectively. Importantly, the characterized compounds also showed inhibition of the human ortholog, prompting our further interest in these novel IRAP inhibitors.

Insulin‐regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) is a new potential macromolecular target for drugs aimed for treatment of cognitive disorders. Inhibition of IRAP by angiotensin IV (Ang IV) improves the memory and learning in rats. The majority of the known IRAP inhibitors are peptidic in character and suffer from poor pharmacokinetic properties. Herein, we present a series of small non‐peptide IRAP inhibitors derived from a spiro‐oxindole dihydroquinazolinone screening hit (pIC50 5.8). The compounds were synthesized either by a simple microwave (MW)‐promoted three‐component reaction, or by a two‐step one‐pot procedure. For decoration of the oxindole ring system, rapid MW‐assisted Suzuki‐Miyaura cross‐couplings (1 min) were performed. A small improvement of potency (pIC50 6.6 for the most potent compound) and an increased solubility could be achieved. As deduced from computational modelling and MD simulations it is proposed that the S‐configuration of the spiro‐oxindole dihydroquinazolinones accounts for the inhibition of IRAP.

Inhibition of Insulin-regulated Aminopeptidase (IRAP) has been shown to improve cognitive functions in several animal models. Recently, we performed a screening campaign identifying novel small-molecule based compounds acting as inhibitors of the enzymatic activity IRAP. Here we report on the chemical synthesis, structure-activity relationships (SAR) and initial characterization of physicochemical properties of a series of imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine-based inhibitors, including delineation of their mode of action as non-competitive inhibitors with a small L-leucine-based IRAP substrate. The best compound displays an pIC50 values of 6.0. We elucidate the importance of two chiral sites in these molecules and find they have little impact on the compound´s metabolic stability or physicochemical properties. The carbonyl group of a central urea moiety was initially believed to mimic substrate binding to a catalytically important Zn²⁺ ion in the active site, although the plausibility of this binding hypothesis is challenged by observation of excellent selectivity versus the closely related aminopeptidase N (APN). Taken together with the non-competitive inhibition pattern, we also consider an alternative model of allosteric binding.

A fast and convenient synthetic route towards spiro-oxindole dihydroquinazolinones as novel and drug-like insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP) inhibitors is reported. The synthesis is performed using a MW heated continuous flow system employing 200 mm X 3 mm i MW absorbing silicon carbide (SiC) or MW transparent borosilicate tubular reactors. A three-component MW-flow reaction to build up the spiro compounds (9 examples, 4087% yield), using the SiC reactor, as well as a SuzukiMiyaura cross-coupling reaction (71%), employing the borosilicate reactor, are presented with residence times down to 168 s. The continuous MW-flow routes provide a smooth and scalable synthetic methodology towards this class of IRAP inhibitors.