Controlling azobenzene photoswitching through combined ortho-fluorination and -amination.

We present a series of visible-light-absorbing azobenzene photoswitches with cis-lifetimes ranging from one second to three days. We combine ortho-fluorination to control the cis-lifetimes, and ortho-amination to boost the visible-light absorption. The synthesis is accomplished by selectively replacing one or more ortho-fluorines with amines in the ortho-fluoroazobenzene precursors.

Identification of COMT and ErmC inhibitors by using a microplate assay in combination with library focusing by virtual screening.

The paper describes a process of facilitated screening by using a combination of molecular modelling and a 96-well microplate assay for the identification of novel inhibitors of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and bacteria expressing ErmC. With the help of virtual screening the number of compounds processed in the in vitro screening assay was reduced from over 200,000 to 49. Out of the 49, two structurally very similar compounds were identified as confirmed hits with reasonable activity (IC50 values of 26 and 73 microM) and thus as potential core structures for further drug design and development.