Physicochemical characterization of B-hydroxyphenyl phosphine borane derivatives and their evaluation as nuclear estrogen receptor ligands

Abstract

Increasing the structural options in medicinal chemistry is a promising approach to develop new drug candidates. In this research, we designed and synthesized a series of B-hydroxyphenyl phosphine borane derivatives and investigated their structure–property and structure–activity relationships. The synthesized B-phenylphosphine borane derivatives exhibited sufficient stability in aqueous media, weaker hydrophobicity than the corresponding alkanes and silanes, and sufficient affinity for lipid membranes to enable permeability. Several B-hydroxyphenyl phosphine borane derivatives exhibited significant estrogen receptor (ER) agonistic activity with superior ligand-lipophilicity efficiency (LLE). The phosphine borane framework appears to be a promising option for structural development in drug discovery studies.