A series of novel nonpeptide inhibitors of the pp60(c-Src) (Src) SH2 domain is described that exploit multifunctional group replacement of the phenylphosphate moiety of phosphotyrosine (pTyr). Relative to an x-ray structure of citrate complexed to the pTyr binding site of the Src SH2 domain, these nonpeptide ligands illustrate the systematic replacement of the phosphate group by multiple nonhydrolyzable, mono- or dianionic functionalities. Specifically, several phenylalanine (Phe) analogs incorporating key 4' and 3' substituents were synthesized and incorporated into a bicyclic benzamide template previously reported (W. C. Shakespeare et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 2000, Vol. 97, pp. 9373-9378). These pTyr mimetics included 4',3'-diphosphono-Phe (Dpp), 4',3'-dicarboxymethyloxy-Phe (Dcp), and 4'-phosphono-3'-carboxymethyloxy-Phe (Cpp). Noteworthy were nonpeptide inhibitors 8-11 that were 5- to 10-fold more potent than the cognate tetrapeptide ligand Ac-pTyr-Glu-Glu-Ile-NH(2) in binding to the Src SH2 domain.
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