Synthetic multimerizing agents

A multimerizing agent of the formula

• M1—L—M2 I
• nd pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, including their individual stereoisomers and mixtures of stereoisomers, where M1 and M2 are independently moieties of formula II:
• 171
• where n=1 or 2;
• X=O, NH or CH2;
• Y=O, NH, NR3, or represents a direct, i.e. covalent, bond from R2 to atom 9;
• R1, R2, and R3 are independently C1-C20 aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aryl or heteroaryl;
• wherein aliphatic and heteroaliphatic moieties include both saturated and unsaturated straight chain, branched, cyclic, or polycyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons which may contain oxygen, sulfur, or nitrogen in place of one or more carbon atoms, and which are optionally substituted with one or more functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, C1-C8 alkoxy, acyloxy, carbamoyl, amino, N-acylamino, ketone, halogen, cyano, carboxyl, and aryl;
• aryl and heteroaryl moieties include stable cyclic, heterocyclic, polycyclic, and polyheterocyclic unsaturated C3-C14 moieties, exemplified but not limited to phenyl, biphenyl, naphthyl, pyridyl, furyl, thiophenyl, imidazoyl, pyrimidinyl, and oxazoyl;
• which may further be substituted with one to five members selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, C1-C8 alkoxy, C1-C8 branched or straight-chain alkyl acyloxy, carbamoyl, amino, N-acylamino, nitro, halogen, trifluoromethyl, cyanco, and carboxyl;
• R1 and R2 may optionally be joined, i.e., covalently linked, together, forming a macrocyclic structure (as indicated by the dashed line in II);
• and
• L is a linker moiety covalently linking monomers M1 and M2 through covalent bonds to either R1 or R2, not necessarily the same in each of M1 and M2.