Design and synthesis of potent amido- and benzyl-substituted cis-3-amino-4-(2-cyanopyrrolidide)pyrrolidinyl DPP-IV inhibitors.

The cis-3-amino-4-(2-cyanopyrrolidide)-pyrrolidine template has been shown to afford low nanomolar inhibitors of human DPP-IV that exhibit a robust PK/PD profile. An X-ray co-crystal structure of 5 confirmed the proposed mode of binding. The potent single digit DPP-IV inhibitor 53 exhibited a preferred PK/PD profile in preclinical animal models and was selected for additional profiling.