Use of small-molecule crystal structures to address solubility in a novel series of G protein coupled receptor 119 agonists: optimization of a lead and in vivo evaluation.

G protein coupled receptor 119 (GPR119) is viewed as an attractive target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and other elements of the metabolic syndrome. During a program toward discovering agonists of GPR119, we herein describe optimization of an initial lead compound, 2, into a development candidate, 42. A key challenge in this program of work was the insolubility of the lead compound. Small-molecule crystallography was utilized to understand the intermolecular interactions in the solid state and resulted in a switch from an aryl sulphone to a 3-cyanopyridyl motif. The compound was shown to be effective in wild-type but not knockout animals, confirming that the biological effects were due to GPR119 agonism.