Variolin B is a marine alkaloid, which was isolated from the rare and difficult-to-access Antarctic sponge Kirkpatrickia varialosa.1 It has been found to be a potent kinase inhibitor.2 In order to discover new inhibitors with better selectivity and drug-like properties, the Morris Group have developed libraries of truncated analogs of Variolin B.

Those compounds were found to be more selective for kinases that regulate alternative splicing. We are currently expanding these libraries by examining different aryl pendent rings and different amines.
