Structural basis of the selectivity of the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor for fluorinated catecholamines.

The important and diverse biological functions of adrenergic receptors, a subclass of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), have made the search for compounds that selectively stimulate or inhibit the activity of different adrenergic receptor subtypes an important area of medicinal chemistry. We previously synthesized 2-, 5-, and 6-fluoronorepinehprine (FNE) and 2-, 5-, and 6-fluoroepinephrine (FEPI) and found that 2FNE and 2FEPI were selective beta-adrenergic agonists and that 6FNE and 6FEPI were selective alpha-adrenergic agonists, while 5FNE and 5FEPI were unselective. Agonist potencies correlated well with receptor binding affinities. Here, through a combination of molecular modeling and site-directed mutagenesis, we have identified N293 in the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor as a crucial residue for the selectivity of the receptor for catecholamines fluorinated at different positions.