(3-Cyano-5-fluorophenyl)biaryl Negative Allosteric Modulators of mGlu5: Discovery of a New Tool Compound with Activity in the OSS Mouse Model of Addiction

Glutamate is the major excitatory transmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), exerting its effects through both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors. The metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGlus) belong to family C of the G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The eight mGlus identified to date are classified into three groups based on their structure, preferred signal transduction mechanisms, and pharmacology (group I: mGlu1 and mGlu5; group II: mGlu2 and mGlu3; group III: mGlu4, mGlu6, mGlu7, and mGlu8). Noncompetitive antagonists, also known as negative allosteric modulators (NAMs), of mGlu5 offer potential therapeutic applications in diseases such as pain, anxiety, gastresophageal reflux disease (GERD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), fragile X syndrome, and addiction. The development of structure−activity relationships (SAR) in a (3-cyano-5-fluorophenyl)biaryl series using our functional cell-based assay is described in this communication. Further characterization of a selected compo...