Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine and 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine derivatives as c-Met inhibitors.

Five novel 1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine or 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine derivatives, with a methylene, sulfur, sulfoxide or cyclopropyl group as a linker, were designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated against c-Met and ALK. The development of these methods of compound synthesis may provide an important reference for the construction of novel 7-azaindole and 7-azaindazole derivatives with a single atom linker. The enzyme assay and cell assay in vitro showed that compound 9 displayed strong c-Met kinase inhibition with IC50 of 22.8nM, moderate ALK kinase inhibition, and strong cell inhibition with MKN-45 IC50 of 329nM and EBC-1 IC50 of 479nM. In order to find the better candidate compounds, compounds 8, 9 and 10 have been selected as tool compounds for further optimization.