VIRTUAL COMBINATORIAL LIBRARIES - DYNAMIC GENERATION OF MOLECULAR ANDSUPRAMOLECULAR DIVERSITY BY SELF-ASSEMBLY

Molecular and supramolecular diversity may be generated, respectively, by reversible, covalent or noncovalent self-assembly of basic compone nts whose various potential combinations in number and nature represen t a virtual combinatorial library, This concept is applied to the indu ction of inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase (CA) by reversible recombina tion of aldehyde and amine components, It is found that the presence o f CA favors the formation of those condensation compounds that may be expected to present the strongest binding to the CA active site, The v irtual combinatorial library approach may represent a powerful methodo logy for the discovery of substrates, inhibitors, receptors, catalysts , and carriers for a variety of processes.