Molecular design opportunities presented by solvent-exposed regions of target proteins.
Xiangyi JiangJi YuZhongxia ZhouJacob KongstedYuning SongChristophe PannecouqueErik De ClercqDongwei KangVasanthanathan PoongavanamXinyong LiuPeng ZhanPublished in: Medicinal research reviews (2019)
Solvent-exposed regions, or solvent-filled pockets, within or adjacent to the ligand-binding sites of drug-target proteins provide opportunities for substantial modifications of existing small-molecular drug molecules without serious loss of activity. In this review, we present recent selected examples of exploitation of solvent-exposed regions of proteins in drug design and development from the recent medicinal-chemistry literature.