Design, synthesis and preliminary evaluation of novel pyrrolidine derivatives as matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors.

A series of novel pyrrolidine derivatives were designed, synthesized and assayed for their inhibitory activities on matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and aminopeptidase N (AP-N). The results showed that these pyrrolidine derivatives exhibited highly selective inhibition against MMP-2 as compared with AP-N. The hydroxamates 8a-c were equally or more potent MMP-2 inhibitors than the positive control LY52. The binding mode of the most potent compound 8a with MMP-2 was proposed. Structure-activity relationships were also briefly discussed.