Patent ID: 7288567

Claim:
An inhibitor of histone deacetylase represented by formula (1): Cy—X—Y 1 —W (1) wherein Cy is a heterocyclic moiety selected from the group consisting of furan, benzofuran, thiophene and benzothiophene, any of which may be optionally substituted; X is selected from the group consisting of C═O, C═CH 2 , CH(OH), CH(OR 1 ), C═N(OH), and C═N(OR 1 ), where R 1 is alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, or acyl; Y 1 is a C 3 -C 7 alkylene, wherein said alkylene may be optionally substituted, and wherein one or two carbon atoms in the alkylene chain connecting X and W may be replaced with O, NR 3 , or S(O) n , where R 3 is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, acyl, alkoxycarbonyl, or carbamoyl, and n is 0, 1, or 2, provided that the atoms in Y 1 that are attached to X and W are carbon atoms, and further provided that Y 1 does not comprise an ester or amide linkage in the alkylene chain connecting X and W; and W is selected from the group consisting of —C(O)—CH 2 —SR 2 , —C(O)—NH—OM, —NH—C(O)—NH-Z, and —C(O)—NH-Z, where R 2 is alkyl, aryl, aralkyl, or acyl, wherein the aryl portion of any such groups may be optionally substituted; M is hydrogen or a pharmaceutically acceptable cation; and Z is selected from the group consisting of anilinyl, pyridyl, thiazolyl, hydroxyphenyl, thiadiazolyl, anilinylmethyl, or pyridylmethyl, any of which groups optionally may be substituted with halo, hydroxyl, amino, nitro, C 1 -C 4 alkyl, or C 1 -C 4 alkoxy.