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Figure 15<br />

The energy profiles and MEP surfaces (–20 kcal/mol) for catechol (black) and<br />

3,5-dinitrocatechol (grey).<br />

decreases the activating negative potential substantially. As a consequence, the OH group is weakly<br />

nucleophilic and 3,5-dinitrocatechol is not a substrate of COMT but a potent inhibitor.<br />

VII. Inhibitor <strong>Design</strong><br />

Page 358<br />

The drug-design process of COMT inhibitors started long before the structure of the target molecule was<br />

available. The most important results were extracted from the QSAR studies of substituted catechols<br />

[26,42]. Those investigations clearly indicated the importance of the acidity of one of the two hydroxyl<br />

groups in the catechol ring. The ionization of the hydroxyl was greatly influenced <strong>by</strong> electronwithdrawing<br />

substituents in the positions ortho and para to the hydroxyl. The lipophilicity of the side<br />

chain was predicted, but after the determination of the enzyme structure it became clear that the active<br />

site of COMT is a relatively shallow groove where ligands with longer side chains<br />

http://legacy.netlibrary.com/nlreader/nlReader.dll?bookid=12640&filename=Page_358.html [4/5/2004 5:29:56 PM]

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