Combined distance geometry analysis of dihydrofolate reductase inhibition by quinazolines and triazines.

Guided by the success of distance geometry in explaining the inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase by 68 quinazolines, we have made a combined analysis on the inhibition of rat liver dihydrofolate reductase by 33 triazines and 15 quinazolines. The model gave a fit having the correlation coefficient 0.892 and root mean square (rms) deviation 0.596 in log (1/C50) units. The model was applied to predict the biological activity of 91 compounds. The predicted values showed an rms deviation of 0.907 and a correlation coefficient of 0.790. The present study suggested the synthesis of some triazines as possible potent dihydrofolate inhibitors. The site geometry was compared with the crystal structure of a triazine bound to chicken liver dihydrofolate reductase, and a good correlation has been found.