Tyrphostins. 6. Dimeric benzylidenemalononitrile tyrophostins: potent inhibitors of EGF receptor tyrosine kinase in vitro.

Benzylidenemalononitrile (BMN) tyrphostins were previously found to be potent inhibitors of EGF receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase activity. Since these compounds were found to compete for the substrate and sometimes with the ATP site and since EGFR acts as a dimer, we prepared a series of dimeric tyrphostins. These dimeric tyrphostins were built from two BMN units linked by various spacers and designed to fit the dimeric cross-autophosphorylation signal transduction intermediate of the EGFR tyrosine kinases. Structure-activity relationship of these potent dimeric EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors is reported.