Novel, potent, selective, and metabolically stable stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) inhibitors

We identified a series of structurally novel SCD (Delta 9 desaturase) inhibitors via high-throughput screening and follow-up SAR studies. Modi. cation of the central bicyclic scaffold has proven key to our potency optimization effort. The most potent analog (8g) had IC(50) value of 50 pM in a HEPG2 SCD assay and has been shown to be metabolically stable and selective against Delta 5 and Delta 6 desaturases. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.