Receptor Mapping by Comparative Molecular Field Analysis of Phospholipase A 2 Inhibitors

In structure‐based design of phospholipase A 2 inhibitors, comparative molecular field analysis is performed on known phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) inhibitors to build a pseudo‐receptor map of the enzyme, which is compared to maps from probe searches with proton and methane. The pseudo‐receptor map resembled in steric properties to the map from a probe search. Hence known ligands can be used to deduce the shape and chemical properties of the binding site of a receptor. Useful information for drug design can be obtained from such receptor mapping.