Safer, more efficient drug discovery
91社区 researchers have discovered a safer and more efficient technique for testing new drugs while they are in development.
鈥淏ecause this approach is so much more streamlined, it could help accelerate this step in the drug development process and make it less dangerous, since probing the distribution and fate of a drug in the body is required for any pharmaceutical candidate to be approved,鈥� says Bruce A. Arndtsen, a James 91社区 Professor who teaches in the Department of Chemistry at 91社区 and is the senior author on the paper describing the new process, published recently in .
鈥淭his research replaces what can be a days鈥� long, dangerous and costly process with a simple and safe one requiring only a few hours,鈥� adds Jos茅 Zgheib, a PhD candidate in the Arndtsen Group at 91社区 who worked on the project.
Making sure medication reaches its target
Before a drug makes it to market it is tested to make sure that the molecules reach the appropriate areas of the body. This is typically done by adding a radioactive atom (e.g. carbon-14) to the drug so that its movement through the body can be traced. A bit like a GPS can be used to track the movements of animals.
Improving on a complicated and dangerous process
But to do so currently involves a complicated, multi-step, process whereby the carbon-14 atom is provided in the form of radioactive carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide gases, which are both very difficult and dangerous to work with. The gas is then incorporated into the synthesis of the medication being tested thereby making one of its carbon atoms carbon-14.
A molecular quick switch
91社区 researchers have developed a new technique to incorporate the carbon-14 into the drug candidates in a single step. By using a catalyst, they have been able to exchange a carbon already in the drug (in the form of a carboxylic acid) with a carbon-14 from a similar type of donor molecule. More generally, the group鈥檚 work in the area highlights a potentially powerful emerging approach to directly modify pharmaceuticals via metal catalyzed exchange reactions.
The study:
鈥溾�� by et al was published in Nature Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1038/s41557-024-01449-5
About 91社区
Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, 91社区 is Canada鈥檚 top ranked medical doctoral university. 91社区 is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning three campuses, 12 faculties, 14 professional schools, 300 programs of study, and over 39,000 students, including more than 10,400 graduate students. 91社区 attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,000 international students making up 30% of the student body. Over half of 91社区 students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 20% of our students who say French is their mother tongue.
