Antiparasitic agents. 5. Synthesis and anthelmintic activities of novel 2-heteroaromatic-substituted isothiocyanatobenzoxazoles and benzothiazoles

Arylisothiocyanate-containing esters of caffeic acid designed as affinity ligands for HIV-1 integrase

Integrase is an enzyme found in human immunodeficiency virus, which is required for the viral life cycle, yet has no human cellular homologue. For this reason, HIV integrase (IN) has become an important target for the development of new AIDS therapeutics. Irreversible affinity ligands have proven to be valuable tools for studying a number of enzyme and protein systems, yet to date there have been no reports of such affinity ligands for the study of IN. As an initial approach toward irreversible ligand design directed against IN, we appended isothiocyanate functionality onto caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a known HIV integrase inhibitor. The choice of isothiocyanate as the reactive functionality, was based on its demonstrated utility in the preparation of affinity ligands directed against a number of other protein targets. Several isomeric CAPE isothiocyanates were prepared to explore the enzyme topography for reactive nitrogen and sulfur nucleophiles vicinal to the enzyme-bound CAPE. The preparation of these CAPE isothiocyanates, required development of new synthetic methodology which employed phenyl thiocarbamates as latent isothiocyanates which could be unmasked near the end of the synthetic sequence. When it was observed that beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME), which is required to maintain the catalytic activity of soluble IN (a F185KC280S mutant), reacted with CAPE isothiocyanate functionality to form the corresponding hydroxyethylthiocarbamate, a variety of mutant IN were examined which did not require the presence of beta-ME for catalytic activity. Although in these latter enzymes, CAPE isothiocyanate functionality was presumed to be present and available for acylation by IN nucleophiles, they were equally effective against Cys to Ser mutants. One conclusion of these studies, is that upon binding of CAPE to the integrase, nitrogen or sulfur nucleophiles may not be properly situated in the vicinity of the phenethyl aryl ring to allow reaction with and covalent modification of reactive functionality, such as isothiocyanate groups. The fact that introduction of the isothiocyanate group onto various positions of the phenethyl ring or replacement of the phenyl ring with naphthyl rings, failed to significantly affect inhibitory potency, indicates a degree of insensitivity of this region of the molecule toward structural modification. These findings may be useful in future studies concerned with the development and use of HIV-1 integrase affinity ligands.

Solid-phase syntheses of heterocycles containing the 2-aminothiophenol moiety

Efficient and general procedures have been developed for the solid-phase preparation of substituted benzothiazoles (1), 3, 4-dihydro-1,4-benzothiazines (2), 3,4-dihydro-1,4-benzothiazine-1, 1-dioxides (3), 3,4-dihydro-3-oxo-1,4-benzothiazines (4), and 3, 4-dihydro-3-oxo-1,4-benzothiazine-1,1-dioxides (5). All five classes of compounds were prepared from a common intermediate, resin-bound 2-amino-4-carboxythiophenol, in a minimal number of steps. This intermediate was generated by (i) coupling 4-fluoro-3-nitrobenzoic acid onto Wang resin, or onto an amino acid bound to the resin, (ii) substitution of the aryl fluoride with a protected thiol, (iii) reduction of the nitro group, and (iv) removal of sulfur protection. Reaction with the appropriate substrates and reagents to effect cyclization gave the substituted core structures, which were modified further to introduce additional point(s) of diversity. Following cleavages from the solid support, the compounds were obtained in high initial purities and good isolated yields after purification.

Synthesis and microbiological activity of some novel 5-benzamido- and 5-phenylacetamido-substituted 2-phenylbenzoxazole derivatives

The synthesis and microbiological activity of a new series of 5-benzamido- and 5-phenylacetamidosubstituted-2-phenylbenzoxazole derivatives (1-26) were described. The in vitro microbiological activity of the compounds was determined against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and the yeast Candida albicans in comparison with standard drugs. Microbiological results indicated that the synthesized compounds possessed a broad spectrum of activity against the tested microorganisms. The compounds 1, 21, 25 showed higher activity than tetracycline and streptomycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Synthesis and antimicrobial activity of some novel 2,5- and/or 6-substituted benzoxazole and benzimidazole derivatives

A new series of 2,5- and/or 6-substituted benzoxazoles (7a-f), benzimidazoles (8a-g) holding cyclohexyl or cyclopentyl moieties at position 2 and 5- or 6-substituted-2-cyclohexylaminomethylbenzoxazoles (9a, b) was synthesized in order to determine their antimicrobial activities and feasible structure-activity relationships. The synthesized compounds were tested in vitro against three Gram-positive, two Gram-negative bacteria and the yeast Candida albicans in comparison with several control drugs. Microbiological results showed that the synthesized compounds were possessing a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against the tested microorganisms. 5-Chloro-2-(2-cyclohexylethyl)benzimidazole (8g) was found as the most active compound against the screened Gram-positive bacteria strains at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 12.5 microg/ml. However, it exhibited lower antibacterial potency than the compared control drugs. On the other side, compounds 7-9 indicated significant antibacterial activity against the Gram-negative enterobacter Pseudomonas aeruginosa having MIC values of 50 microg/ml, providing either the same effect as tetracycline or higher activity than streptomycin, but showing less potency than the compared control drug gentamycin. Moreover, the synthesized compounds also possessed antimycotic activity against the yeast C. albicans showing MIC values between 25-50 microg/ml.