Due to the arising resistance of common drugs targeting the Hedgehog signaling pathway, the identification of new compound classes with inhibitory effect is urgently needed. We were able to identify S-alkylated 2-mercaptobenzoimidazoles as a new compound class that exhibits Hedgehog signaling activity in a low micromolar range. The scope of the 2-mercaptobenzoimidazole motif has been investigated by the syntheses of diverse derivatives, revealing that the elongation of the linker unit and the exchange of particular substitution patterns are tolerable with respect to the activity of the compound class.

中文翻译：

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S-取代的2-巯基苯并咪唑类化合物作为刺猬信号抑制剂的合成与研究

由于针对Hedgehog信号传导途径的常见药物出现耐药性，因此迫切需要鉴定具有抑制作用的新化合物。我们能够鉴定出S-烷基化的2-巯基苯并咪唑为一种新的化合物类别，该化合物在低微摩尔范围内表现出刺猬信号的活性。已经通过各种衍生物的合成研究了2-巯基苯并咪唑基序的范围，揭示了相对于化合物类别的活性，接头单元的伸长和特定取代模式的交换是可容忍的。