Discovery of a Novel Series of Thienopyrimidine as Highly Potent and Selective PI3K Inhibitors

Inhibition of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway provides a promising new approach for cancer therapy. Through a rational design, a novel series of thienopyrimidine was discovered as highly potent and selective PI3K inhibitors. These thienopyrimidine derivatives were demonstrated to bear nanomolar PI3Kα inhibitory potency with over 100-fold selectivity against mTOR kinase. The lead compounds 6g and 6k showed good developability profiles in cell-based proliferation and ADME assays. In this communication, their design, synthesis, structure-activity relationship, selectivity, and some developability properties are described.