Patent ID: 7989456

Claim:
A method of inhibiting Aurora protein kinase activity in a biological sample comprising contacting said biological sample with a compound of formula I: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein Ht is pyrazole or thiazole, wherein each ring is optionally and independently substituted with C 1-6 aliphatic and R 8 ; R x is H, C 1-6 aliphatic, NO 2 , CN, halo, NH 2 , NH(C 1-4 -aliphatic), N(C 1-4 aliphatic) 2 , O(C 1-4 aliphatic), OH, or —N(C═O)(C 1-4 aliphatic); wherein said aliphatic is optionally substituted with 1-3 fluoro; R 1 is aryl, wherein each substitutable ring carbon is independently substituted by N(R 7 )COR, halo and C 1-6 aliphatic; each R is hydrogen, a C 1-6 aliphatic group, a C 6-10 aryl ring, a heteroaryl ring having 5-10 ring atoms, or a heterocyclyl ring having 5-10 ring atoms, the heteroaryl or heterocyclyl ring having 1-4 ring heteroatoms selected from nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur, the aliphatic group and each R ring being optionally substituted by R 9 ; each R 7 is independently hydrogen or C 1-6 aliphatic optionally substituted with 1-3 halogen; each R 8 is halogen, CN, or NO 2 ; each R 9 is —R′, -halo, —OR′, —C(═O)R′, —CO 2 R′, —COCOR′, COCH 2 COR′, —NO 2 , —CN, —S(O)R′, —S(O) 2 R′, —SR′, —N(R′) 2 , —CON(R′) 2 , —SO 2 N(R′) 2 , —OC(═O)R′, —N(R′)COR′, —N(R′)CO 2 (C 1-6 aliphatic), —N(R′)N(R′) 2 , —C═NN(R′) 2 , —C═N—OR′, —N(R′)CON(R′) 2 , —N(R′)SO 2 N(R′) 2 , —N(R′)SO 2 R′, —OC(═O)N(R′) 2 , ═NN(R) 2 , ═N—OR′, or ═O and each R′ is independently hydrogen or a C 1-6 aliphatic group optionally substituted with 0-4 occurrences of NH 2 , NH(C 1-4 aliphatic), N(C 1-4 aliphatic) 2 , halogen, C 1-4 aliphatic, OH, O(C 1-4 aliphatic), NO 2 , CN, CO 2 H, CO 2 (C 1-4 aliphatic), O(haloC 1-4 aliphatic), or haloC 1-4 aliphatic; or, two R′, together with the atom(s) to which they are attached, form an optionally substituted 3-6 membered carbocyclyl or heterocyclyl.