Basic nitrogen (BaN): a ‘privileged element’ in medicinal chemistry

Abstract

Medicinal chemists continuously search for small molecules with ideal pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PKPD) profiles. This quest has resulted in several efforts to understand and define ‘druglikeness’ or ‘drug-like chemical space’. Favorable drug-living system interactions ultimately depend on a compound's chemical structure. Hence, studying patterns and correlations between compound structure and PKPD parameters to derive common denominators is an obvious strategy [Citation1]. Since the publication of ‘Lipinski’s rule of five’ [Citation2], our understanding of the correlation between druglikeness and different physicochemical properties has evolved. Consequently, several guidelines have been suggested for selecting ‘quality’ compounds to improve success rates in preclinical and clinical studies.