Synthesis of potent and selective 2-azepanone inhibitors of human tryptase.

The serine protease tryptase has been associated with a broad range of allergic and inflammatory diseases and, in particular, has been implicated as a critical mediator of asthma. The inhibition of tryptase therefore has the potential to be a valuable therapy for asthma. The synthesis, employing solution phase parallel methods, and SAR of a series of novel 2-azepanone tryptase inhibitors are presented. A member of this series, 8t, was identified as a potent inhibitor of human tryptase (IC50=38 nM) with selectivity ⩽330-fold versus related serine proteases (trypsin, plasmin, uPA, tPA, APC, alpha-thrombin, and FXa).