Synthesis of nucleoside-based antiviral drugs in ionic liquids

Use of ionic liquids in amidation reactions for proteolysis targeting chimera synthesis

Selective degradation of disease-causing proteins using proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) has gained great attention, thanks to its several advantages over traditional therapeutic modalities. Despite the advances made so far, the structural chemical complexity of PROTACs poses challenges in their synthetic approaches. PROTACs are typically prepared through a convergent approach, first synthesizing two fragments separately (target protein and E3 ligase ligands) and then coupling them to produce a fully assembled PROTAC. The amidation reaction represents the most common coupling exploited in PROTACs synthesis. Unfortunately, the overall isolated yields of such synthetic procedures are usually low due to one or more purification steps to obtain the final PROTAC with acceptable purity. In this work, we focused our attention on the optimization of the final amidation step for the synthesis of an anti-SARS-CoV-2 PROTAC by investigating different amidation coupling reagents and a range of alternative solvents, including ionic liquids (ILs). Among the ILs screened, [OMIM][ClO4] emerged as a successful replacement for the commonly used DMF within the HATU-mediated amidation reaction, thus allowing the synthesis of the target PROTAC under mild and sustainable conditions in very high isolated yields. With the optimised conditions in hand, we explored the scalability of the synthetic approach and the substrate scope of the reaction by employing different E3 ligase ligand (VHL and CRBN)-based intermediates containing linkers of different lengths and compositions or by using different target protein ligands. Interestingly, in all cases, we obtained high isolated yields and complete conversion in short reaction times.

A Comprehensive Review on Imperative Role of Ionic Liquids in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Ionic liquids (ILs) are poorly-coordinated ionic salts that can exist as a liquid at room temperatures (or <100 °C). ILs are also referred to as "designer solvents" because so many of them have been created to solve particular synthetic issues. ILs are regarded as "green solvents" because they have several distinctive qualities, including better ionic conduction, recyclability, improved solvation ability, low volatility, and thermal stability. These have been at the forefront of the most innovative fields of science and technology during the past few years. ILs may be employed in new drug formulation development and drug design in the field of pharmacy for various functions such as improvement of solubility, targeted drug delivery, stabilizer, permeability enhancer, or improvement of bioavailability in the development of pharmaceutical or vaccine dosage formulations. Ionic liquids have become a key component in various areas such as synthetic and catalytic chemistry, extraction, analytics, biotechnology, etc., due to their superior abilities along with highly modifiable potential. This study concentrates on the usage of ILs in various pharmaceutical applications enlisting their numerous purposes from the delivery of drugs to pharmaceutical synthesis. To better comprehend cuttingedge technologies in IL-based drug delivery systems, highly focused mechanistic studies regarding the synthesis/preparation of ILs and their biocompatibility along with the ecotoxicological and biological effects need to be studied. The use of IL techniques can address key issues regarding pharmaceutical preparations such as lower solubility and bioavailability which plays a key role in the lack of effectiveness of significant commercially available drugs.

Role and Recent Advancements of Ionic Liquids in Drug Delivery Systems

Advancements in the fields of ionic liquids (ILs) broaden its applications not only in traditional use but also in different pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. Ionic liquids "Solutions for Your Success" have received a lot of interest from scientists due to a myriad of applications in the pharmaceutical industry for drug delivery systems as well as targeting different diseases. Solubility is a critical physicochemical property that determines the drug's fate at the target site. Many promising drug candidates fail in various phases of drug research due to poor solubility. In this context, ionic liquids are regarded as effective drug delivery systems for poorly soluble medicines. ILs are also able to combine different anions/cations with other cations/anions to produce salts that satisfy the concept behind the ILs. The important characteristics of ionic liquids are the modularity of their physicochemical properties depending on the application. The review highlights the recent advancement and further applications of ionic liquids to deliver drugs in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields.

Synthesis of Nucleosides and Deoxynucleosides via Gold(I)-Catalyzed N-Glycosylation of Glycosyl (Z)-Ynenoates

Nucleoside analogues are widely used as anticancer and antiviral drugs. Here, we develop a highly efficient gold(I)-catalyzed N-glycosylation approach for versatile synthesis of various types of nucleosides and deoxynucleosides with glycosyl (Z)-ynenoates as donors. The wide scope of the N-glycosylation approach was demonstrated by the synthesis of 31 pyrimidine nucleosides and 8 purine nucleosides. Remarkably, the gold(I)-catalyzed N-glycosylation of pyranosyl (Z)-ynenoates with purines was found to be very effective for regioselective synthesis of pyranosyl N9 purine nucleosides. Based on the catalytic N-glycosylation approach, convenient synthesis of two 5'-deoxynucleosides drugs (capecitabine and galocitabine), four 2'-deoxynucleoside drugs (floxuridine, trifluridine, decitabine and cladribine), four 3',5'-dideoxynucleoside analogues, and four 2',5'-dideoxynucleoside analogues was achieved in a collective manner.

Antioxidative-, Antimicrobial-, Enzyme Inhibition-, and Cytotoxicity-Based Fractionation and Isolation of Active Components from Monotheca buxifolia (Falc.) A. DC. Stem Extracts

The current study elaborates the pharmacological potential of the methanolic extract and its fractions of the stems of Monotheca buxifolia based on thin-layer chromatography and column chromatography analyses, exploiting biological and phytochemical assays. The results suggest that bioassay-guided isolation and fractionation led to the accumulation of biologically active components in the most active fractions that resulted in the isolation of different compounds. Structural elucidation of the purified compounds was accomplished using spectroscopic one-dimensional (¹H, ¹³C) and two-dimensional NMR (heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence, heteronuclear multiple bond coherence, and correlation spectroscopy) and spectrometric (electron ionization mass spectrometry and high-resolution electron ionization mass spectrometry) techniques. The n-hexane, CHCl₃, and EtAOc fractions led to the isolation of lupeol from different fractions. 1-Triacontanol was also isolated from the n-hexane fraction, while benzoic acid, methyl benzoate, ursolic acid, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid were obtained from the EtOAc fraction. The compounds depicted good-to-moderate total antioxidative potential and total reducing power activity and significant free-radical scavenging activity. All the compounds showed significant urease and lipase inhibitory activity with poor-to-moderate amylase inhibition. Significant zone of inhibition was observed against different bacterial strains by the isolated compounds. This work therefore states that bioassay-guided isolation plays a vital role in the isolation of biologically active constituents that can be exploited for drug development.

Freire CS, Silvestre AJD, Freire MG. The Role of Ionic Liquids in the Pharmaceutical Field: An Overview of Relevant Applications

Solubility, bioavailability, permeation, polymorphism, and stability concerns associated to solid-state pharmaceuticals demand for effective solutions. To overcome some of these drawbacks, ionic liquids (ILs) have been investigated as solvents, reagents, and anti-solvents in the synthesis and crystallization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as solvents, co-solvents and emulsifiers in drug formulations, as pharmaceuticals (API-ILs) aiming liquid therapeutics, and in the development and/or improvement of drug-delivery-based systems. The present review focuses on the use of ILs in the pharmaceutical field, covering their multiple applications from pharmaceutical synthesis to drug delivery. The most relevant research conducted up to date is presented and discussed, together with a critical analysis of the most significant IL-based strategies in order to improve the performance of therapeutics and drug delivery systems.

Mechanisms of action of ionic liquids on living cells: the state of the art

Ionic liquids (ILs) are a relatively new class of organic electrolytes composed of an organic cation and either an organic or inorganic anion, whose melting temperature falls around room-temperature. In the last 20 years, the toxicity of ILs towards cells and micro-organisms has been heavily investigated with the main aim to assess the risks associated with their potential use in (industrial) applications, and to develop strategies to design greener ILs. Toxicity, however, is synonym with affinity, and this has stimulated, in turn, a series of biophysical and chemical-physical investigations as well as few biochemical studies focused on the mechanisms of action (MoAs) of ILs, key step in the development of applications in bio-nanomedicine and bio-nanotechnology. This review has the intent to present an overview of the state of the art of the MoAs of ILs, which have been the focus of a limited number of studies but still sufficient enough to provide a first glimpse on the subject. The overall picture that emerges is quite intriguing and shows that ILs interact with cells in a variety of different mechanisms, including alteration of lipid distribution and cell membrane viscoelasticity, disruption of cell and nuclear membranes, mitochondrial permeabilization and dysfunction, generation of reactive oxygen species, chloroplast damage (in plants), alteration of transmembrane and cytoplasmatic proteins/enzyme functions, alteration of signaling pathways, and DNA fragmentation. Together with our earlier review work on the biophysics and chemical-physics of IL-cell membrane interactions (Biophys. Rev. 9:309, 2017), we hope that the present review, focused instead on the biochemical aspects, will stimulate a series of new investigations and discoveries in the still new and interdisciplinary field of "ILs, biomolecules, and cells."

Synthesis, Characterization, DNA Binding, Anticancer, and Molecular Docking Studies of Novel Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids with Fluorinated Phenylacetamide Tethers

Newer imidazolium ionic liquid (IL) halides 4a-f appending variety of fluorinated phenylacetamide side chains were designed and synthesized through quaternization of 1-methyl and/or 1,2-dimethylimidazole with appropriate 2-chloro-N-(fluorinatedphenyl)acetamides. The resulting ILs were converted to their respective ionic liquid analogues carrying fluorinated counteranions (PF₆ ^-, BF₄ ^-, and/or CF₃COO^-) 5a-r. All newly synthesized ILs were fully characterized using several spectroscopic experiments such as ¹H, ¹³C, ¹¹B, ¹⁹F, ³¹P NMR, and mass analysis. The synthesized ionic liquids were investigated for their DNA binding and anticancer activities. The obtained DNA binding constants ranged from 1.444 × 10⁵ to 3.518 × 10⁵, indicating a reasonably good binding affinity. The percentage of anticancer activities ranged from 48 to 59 with H-1229 cell line, showing quite good anticancer potential. The modeling studies indicated the interactions of the reported molecules with DNA via hydrogen bonds. These were in agreement with those of DNA binding and anticancer results. Briefly, the designed ionic liquids may be used as good anticancer candidates for treating human cancer.

Ionic Liquid-Like Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Applications of Ionic Liquids in Medicinal Chemistry: Development, Status and Prospects

Background:

As a new kind of green media and bioactive compounds with special structure, Ionic Liquids (ILs) are attracting much attention and applied widely in many fields. However, their roles and potential have not been fully recognized by many researchers of medicinal chemistry. Because of obvious differences from other traditional drugs and reagents, their uses and performance together with advantages and disadvantages need to be explored and reviewed in detail.

Methods:

For a systematic and explicit description of the relationship between ILs and medicinal chemistry, all of the contents were elucidated and summarized in a series of independent parts. In each part, it started from the research background or a conceptual framework and then specific examples were introduced to illustrate the theme. Finally, the important conclusions were drawn and its future was outlooked after the discussion about related key problems appearing in each mentioned research. Meanwhile, methodologies such as empirical analysis, comparison and induction were applied in different sections to exposit our subject.

Results:

The whole review was composed of five parts, and 148 papers were cited in total. Related basic information of ionic liquids was provided on the basis of representative references, including their concepts and important characters. Then 82 papers outlined ionic liquid-like active pharmaceutical ingredients, which unfolded with their major biological activities (antimicrobial activity, antibiofilm activity, antitumor activity, anticholinesterase activity and so on). Applications of ionic liquids in the synthesis of drugs and pharmaceutical intermediates were elaborated in 92 papers to illustrate the important roles of ILs and their extraordinary properties in this field. Moreover, new technologies (such as immobilization of IL, microwave reaction, solventfree synthesis, microreactor, etc) were introduced for further innovation. Finally, 26 papers were included to expound the status of the IL-assisted derivatization of various natural lead compounds.

Conclusion:

This review placed emphasis on chemical structures of ILs and their structureactivity relationships in a specific manner, leading to meaningful and valuable related information to some related fields and thus promotes further development and application of various ILs for medicinal chemistry. The deep exploration for key scientific problems is the driving force to propel their theoretical breakthrough and industrial production.

The Use of Liquids Ionic Fluids as Pharmaceutically Active Substances Helpful in Combating Nosocomial Infections Induced by Klebsiella Pneumoniae New Delhi Strain, Acinetobacter Baumannii and Enterococcus Species

This review deals with various microbiological activities of ionic liquids, which constitute the first anti-infective defense against multi-drug-resistant bacteria-with a particular emphasis placed on medicine and pharmacology. The quoted data on the biological activity of ionic liquids including their antimicrobial properties (depending on the type of a cation or an anion) and are discussed in view of possible applications in nosocomial infections. Dedicated attention is given to finding infections with the Klebsiella pneumoniae New Delhi strain, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterococcus species, which are responsible for the induction of antibiotic resistance in intensive care units. Diagnosis and treatment using current antibiotics is a significant problem in hospital care, and the relevant burden on the health systems of the European Union member states induces the search for new, effective methods of treatment. Ionic liquids, due to their antibacterial effect, can be considered topical and general medications and may provide the basis for treatment to eliminate the antibiotic resistance phenomenon in the future. At present, the number of infections with resistant pathogens in hospitals and outpatient clinics in the European Union is growing. In 2015⁻2017, a significant incidence of respiratory and bloodstream infections with bacteria resistant to antibiotics from the 3rd generation group of cephalosporins, glycopeptides, and carbapenems were observed. The paper presents examples of synthesized bifunctional salts with at least one pharmaceutically active ion in obtaining a controlled release, controlled delivery, and biological impact on the pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi. The ionic liquids obtained in the presented way may find applications in the treatment of wounds and infections.

Radiosynthesis of the anticancer nucleoside analogue Trifluridine using an automated 18F-trifluoromethylation procedure

Trifluoromethyl groups are widespread in medicinal chemistry, yet there are limited 18F-radiochemistry techniques available for the production of the complementary PET agents. Herein, we report the first radiosynthesis of the anticancer nucleoside analogue trifluridine, using a fully automated, clinically-applicable 18F-trifluoromethylation procedure. [18F]Trifluridine was obtained after two synthetic steps in <2 hours. The isolated radiochemical yield was 3% ± 0.44 (n = 5), with a radiochemical purity >99%, and a molar activity of 0.4 GBq μmol-1 ± 0.05. Biodistribution and PET-imaging data using HCT116 tumour-bearing mice showed a 2.5 %ID g-1 tumour uptake of [18F]trifluridine at 60 minutes post-injection, with bone uptake becoming a prominent feature thereafter. In vivo metabolite analysis of selected tissues revealed the presence of the original radiolabelled nucleoside analogue, together with deglycosylated and phosphorylated [18F]trifluridine as the main metabolites. Our findings suggest a potential role for [18F]trifluridine as a PET radiotracer for elucidation of drug mechanism of action.

Biological Activity of Ionic Liquids and Their Application in Pharmaceutics and Medicine

Ionic liquids are remarkable chemical compounds, which find applications in many areas of modern science. Because of their highly tunable nature and exceptional properties, ionic liquids have become essential players in the fields of synthesis and catalysis, extraction, electrochemistry, analytics, biotechnology, etc. Apart from physical and chemical features of ionic liquids, their high biological activity has been attracting significant attention from biochemists, ecologists, and medical scientists. This Review is dedicated to biological activities of ionic liquids, with a special emphasis on their potential employment in pharmaceutics and medicine. The accumulated data on the biological activity of ionic liquids, including their antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties, are discussed in view of possible applications in drug synthesis and drug delivery systems. Dedicated attention is given to a novel active pharmaceutical ingredient-ionic liquid (API-IL) concept, which suggests using traditional drugs in the form of ionic liquid species. The main aim of this Review is to attract a broad audience of chemical, biological, and medical scientists to study advantages of ionic liquid pharmaceutics. Overall, the discussed data highlight the importance of the research direction defined as "Ioliomics", studies of ions in liquids in modern chemistry, biology, and medicine.

Ionic liquids in pharmaceutical applications

In the past several years, ionic liquids (ILs) have been at the cutting edge of the most promising science and technology. ILs not only have found applications in classical areas of knowledge but also are important candidates to solve classical problems within several societal challenges, such as clean and efficient energy, through the development of a broad swath of energy technologies, such as advanced batteries, dye-sensitized solar cells, double-layer capacitors, actuators, fuel cells, thermo-cells, and water splitting, essentially related to highly efficient carbon capture and storage technologies and resource efficiency to date. This review focuses on the application of IL methodologies to solve critical pharmaceutical problems, in particular, the low solubility and thus bioavailability of pharmaceutical compounds and the presence of polymorphs, which severely hamper the efficacy of important commercially available drugs. The development of strategies to use ILs as carriers of pharmaceutical active compounds is an extremely promising and wide avenue. Further, the synthesis of liquid salts through the discerning combination of cations and anions with several distinct pharmaceutical roles provides answers to some of today's pharmaceutical industrial challenges.

First ligand-free, microwave-assisted, Heck cross-coupling reaction in pure water on a nucleoside – application to the synthesis of antiviral BVDU

For the first time, a palladium catalyzed Heck cross-coupling reaction between 5-iodo-2′-deoxyuridine and various acrylate derivatives was performed using ligand-free conditions and microwave assistance in pure water.

Systematic assignment of NMR spectra of 5-substituted-4-thiopyrimidine nucleosides

Unambiguous characterization of 5-substituted-4-thiopyrimidine nucleosides (ribonucleosides and 2'-deoxynucleosides) was performed using NMR spectroscopy. Assignments of all proton and carbon signals of 5-bromo-4-thiouridine and related nucleosides were systematically carried out and firmly established by COSY and HMQC techniques. The NMR data of various 4-thiopyrimidine nucleosides are compared, and the key contributing factors discussed. The approach presented here is applicable to other modified nucleosides and nucleotides, as well as nucleobases.

Innate C-H trifluoromethylation of heterocycles

Direct methods for the trifluoromethylation of heteroaromatic systems are in extremely high demand in nearly every sector of chemical industry. Here we report the discovery of a general procedure using a benchtop stable trifluoromethyl radical source that functions broadly on a variety of electron deficient and rich heteroaromatic systems and demonstrates high functional group tolerance. This C-H trifluoromethylation protocol is operationally simple (avoids gaseous CF(3)I), scalable, proceeds at ambient temperature, can be used directly on unprotected molecules, and is demonstrated to proceed at the innately reactive positions of the substrate. The unique and orthogonal reactivity of the trifluoromethyl radical relative to aryl radicals has also been investigated on both a complex natural product and a pharmaceutical agent. Finally, preliminary data suggest that the regioselectivity of C-H trifluoromethylation can be fine-tuned simply by judicious solvent choice.

Ionic liquids--an overview

A virtually unprecedented exponential burst of activity resulted following the publication, in 1998, of an article by Michael Freeman (Freemantle, M. Chemical & Engineering News, 1998, March 30, 32), which speculated on the role and contribution that ionic liquids (ILs) might make in the future on the development of clean technology. Up until that time only a handful of researchers were routinely engaged in the study of ILs but frenzied activity followed that continues until the present day. Scientists from all disciplines related to Chemistry have now embarked on studies, including theoreticians who are immersed in the aim of improving the "designer role" so that they can tailor ILs to deliver specified properties. This article, whilst not in any sense attempting to be exhaustive, highlights the main features which characterise ILs, presenting these in a form readily assimilated by newcomers to this area of research. An extensive glossary is featured in this article as well as a chronological list which charts the major areas of development. What follows consists of a number of sections briefly describing the role of lLs as solvents, hypergolic fuels, their use in some electrochemical devices such as solar cells and lithium batteries and their use in polymerisation reactions, followed by a concise summary of some of the other roles that they are capable of playing. The role of empirical, volume-based thermodynamics procedures, as well as large scale computational studies on ILs is also highlighted. These developments which are described are remarkable in that they have been achieved in less than a decade and a half although knowledge of these materials has existed for much longer.

Structural modifications of nucleosides in ionic liquids

Nucleoside chemistry represents an important research area for drug discovery, as many nucleoside analogs are prominent drugs and have been widely applied for cancer and viral chemotherapy. However, the synthesis of modified nucleosides presents a major challenge, which is further aggravated by poor solubility of these compounds in common organic solvents. Most of the currently available methods for nucleoside modification employ toxic high boiling solvents; require long reaction time and tedious workup methods. As such, there is constant effort to develop process chemistry in alternative medium to limit the use of organic solvents that are hazardous to the environment and can be deleterious to human health. One such approach is to use ionic liquids, which are 'designer materials' with unique and tunable physico-chemical properties. Studies have shown that methodologies using ionic liquids are highly efficient and convenient for the synthesis of nucleoside analogs, as demonstrated by the preparation of pharmaceutically important anti-viral drugs. This article summarizes recent efforts on nucleoside modification using ionic liquids.

Impact of ionic liquids in environment and humans: An overview

Ionic liquids enclose a large number of molecular structures consisting of a cation and an anion. Their physical state and their chemical properties can be tuned by different combination of the ions and a large number of ionic liquids have already been reported. Toxicity of ionic liquids is a subject of great importance concerning their likely use as greener solvents and new materials for a broad number of potential applications. This review provides relevant toxicological data published so far about this topic and includes a large range of ionic liquids based on different cations (imidazolium, pyridinium, pyrrolidinium, quaternary ammonium, quaternary phosphonium and guanidinium) and anions (halogens-Br, Cl, bis (trifluoromethyl)sulfonylamide, tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, dicyanamide, acesulfame and saccharin, amongst others). In general, toxicity of ionic liquids depends on both ions and the effect of the cation alkyl chain length is very pronounced although the type of anion also exerts impact on the overall toxicity.

Ionic liquid mediated and promoted eco-friendly preparation of thiazolidinone and pyrimidine nucleoside-thiazolidinone hybrids and their antiparasitic activities

Without any catalyst, 2,3-disubstituted-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one derivatives were synthesized efficiently via the three-component reaction of aldehyde, amine and mercaptoacetic acid in [bmim][PF(6)]. The whole procedure is simple and straightforward and no aqueous work-up is needed. By employing this protocol, a series of novel pyrimidine nucleoside-thiazolidin-4-one hybrids were prepared and their preliminary antiparasitic activities were also studied and reported.