Patent ID: 8389279

Claim:
A method of modulating the activity of one or more members of the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) class, comprising: contacting a cell with an effective amount of one or more compounds of formula (I): wherein: y is any integer from 1 to 8; z is any integer from 0 to 8 with the proviso that y and z cannot simultaneously be 1; X is —CO—(Y) k —(R 1 ) n or SO 2 —(Y) k —(R 1 ) n ; k is 0 or 1; Y is a cycloalkyl, polycyloalkyl, cycloalkenyl or polycycloalkenyl group; each R 1 is independently selected from hydrogen or an alkyl, haloalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, alkenyl, alkynyl, alkylamino, alkylaminoalkyl, alkylaminodialkyl, charged alkylaminotrialkyl or charged alkylcarboxylate radical of 1 to 20 carbon atoms; or each R 1 is independently selected from fluoro, chloro, bromo, iodo, hydroxy, oxyalkyl, amino, aminoalkyl, aminodialkyl, charged aminotrialkyl, or carboxylate radical; and n is any integer from 1 to m, where m is the maximum number of substitutions permissible on the cyclo-group Y; or alternatively R 1 may be a peptido radical having from 1 to 4 peptidic moieties linked together by peptide bonds; wherein the 1 to 4 peptidic moieties are selected from the 20 naturally occurring amino acids and, where R 1 is charged, one or more suitable counter-ions are present.