Diketopiperazine

The diketopiperazines: 2,3-, 2,5, and 2,6-isomers.

A diketopiperazine (DKP), also known as a dioxopiperazine or piperazinedione, is a class of organic compounds related to piperazine but containing two amide linkages. DKP's are the smallest known class of cyclic peptide.[1] Despite their name, they are not ketones, but amides. Three regioisomers are possible, differing in the locations of the carbonyl groups.

Retosiban[2] is a diketopiperazine being investigated as an oral drug.

Of these three isomeric diketopiperazines, the 2,5-derivatives have attracted the greatest interest.[3][4] Due to their appearance in biologically active natural products, medicinal chemists have been inspired to use DKPs to circumvent the poor physical and metabolic properties of peptides in the course of drug discovery.

  1. ^ Carvalho, M. P. de; Abraham, W.-R. (2012). "Antimicrobial and Biofilm Inhibiting Diketopiperazines". Current Medicinal Chemistry. 19 (21): 3564–3577. doi:10.2174/092986712801323243. hdl:10033/243651. PMID 22709011.
  2. ^ Borthwick AD, Liddle J (January 2013). "Retosiban and Epelsiban: Potent and Selective Orally available Oxytocin Antagonists". In Domling A (ed.). Methods and Principles in Medicinal Chemistry: Protein-Protein Interactions in Drug Discovery. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. pp. 225–256. ISBN 978-3-527-33107-9.
  3. ^ Borthwick, A. D. (2012). "2,5-Diketopiperazines: Synthesis, Reactions, Medicinal Chemistry, and Bioactive Natural Products". Chem. Rev. 112 (7): 3641–716. doi:10.1021/cr200398y. PMID 22575049.
  4. ^ Witiak DT, Wei Y. (1990). "Dioxopiperazines: chemistry and biology". Progress in Drug Research. 35: 249–363. doi:10.1007/978-3-0348-7133-4_7. ISBN 3-7643-2499-6. PMID 2290982.