Patent ID: 7202234

Claim:
A compound of the formula: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein a is an integer of 1 to 3; b is an integer of 0 to 4, wherein when b is 0, the carbon bonded to X and W is not bonded to 2 or more heteroatoms; R 1 is H or C 1-6 alkyl; X is selected from the group consisting of —NR X1 V, —N(R X1 )C(O)V, —N(R X1 )C(S)V, —N(R X1 )C(O)N(R X2 )V, —N(R X1 )C(S)N(R X2 )V, —N(R X1 )C(O)OV, —N(R X1 )S(O) 2 V, —C(O)N(R X1 )V, —C(O)OV, —OC(O)V, —OC(O)OV, and —OC(O)N(R X1 )V, where each of R X1 and R X2 is, independently, H or C 1-6 alkyl, and V is a C 1-20 alkyl, C 1-20 alkenyl, or C 1-20 alkynyl group, optionally substituted with halo, hydroxyl, C 1-21 acyloxy, oxo, C 1-20 alkoxyl, or C 1-20 thioalkoxyl and optionally containing 1 or 2 phenyl or biphenyl moieties in and/or at the end of the carbon chain; W is selected from the group consisting of H, —C(O)N(R W1 )R W2 , —C(O)OR W2 , —(CH 2 ) c OR W3 , —(CH 2 ) c SR W3 , —(CH 2 ) c O(CH 2 ) d CH(OR W3 )R W4 , —(CH 2 ) c S(CH 2 ) d CH(OR W3 )R W4 , —C(O)N(R W1 )(CH 2 ) c CH(OR W3 )R W4 , and —C(O)N(R W1 )(CH 2 ) c CH(OR W3 )(CH 2 ) e OR W5 , wherein each of c and d is, independently, an integer of 1 to 4, e is an integer of 2 to 4, R W1 is H or C 1-6 alkyl, R W2 is C 1-20 alkyl, C 1-20 alkenyl or C 1-20 alkynyl, each of R W3 and R W5 is, independently, H, C 1-20 alkyl, C 1-21 acyl, C 1-20 alkenyl, or C 1-20 alkynyl, and R W4 is H, C 1-20 alkyl, C 1-20 alkenyl, or C 1-20 alkynyl, wherein each of R W2 , R W3 , R W4 , and R W5 is optionally substituted with halo, hydroxyl, C 1-21 acyloxy, oxo, C 1-20 alkoxyl, or C 1-20 thioalkoxyl, optionally contains 1 to 2 phenyl or biphenyl moieties in and/or at the end of the carbon chain, and optionally contains 1 to 4 non-vicinal oxygen atoms in the carbon chain; and U is selected from the group consisting of wherein f is an integer of 1 to 4, g is 0 or 1, each of R U1 , R U2 , and R U3 is, independently, H, optionally substituted C 1-6 alkyl, optionally substituted C 7-16 aralkyl, or optionally substituted C 2-15 heterocyclylalkyl, or R U1 is H or optionally substituted C 1-6 alkyl and R U2 and R U3 together with the carbon atom they are bonded to form an optionally substituted C 3-6 aliphatic ring, or R U2 is H and R U3 and R U1 together with the carbon atom bonded to R U3 and the nitrogen atom bonded to R U1 form an optionally substituted 4–6-membered heterocyclic ring, and R U4 is selected from the group consisting of —C(O)R U5 and —C(O)OR U6 wherein R U5 is an optionally substituted C 1-9 indole, and R U6 is an optionally substituted C 1-6 alkyl.