Synthesis of diastereomeric 3-hydroxy-4-pyrrolidinyl derivatives of nucleobases

Radiolabeled Aminopyrazoles as Novel Isoform Selective Probes for pJNK3 Quantification

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3 (JNK3) is a stress-activated kinase primarily expressed in the brain and implicated as an early mediator of neuronal apoptosis. We sought to develop a PET tracer to visualize pathological JNK3 activation. Because regional JNK3 activation precedes apoptosis, such an imaging agent might enable the detection of "at risk" brain regions prior to neuronal death. We prepared a set of 19F-containing compounds on the basis of the reported aminopyrazoles. The candidate, F3, was tritiated and used in autoradiography experiments to demonstrate regional and temporal changes in JNK3 activation in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. A significant increase in pJNK3 B max versus control animals in multiple brain regions was observed at 8 months, including the ventral midbrain. Pathological activation of JNK3 in these regions preceded statistically significant neuron loss. Analyses of brain concentrations of [18F]-F3 in naïve rats following intravenous injection revealed a small but detectable signal over the background, but was likely not sufficient to support PET imaging.

Organocatalytic and enantioselective [4+2] cyclization between hydroxymaleimides and ortho-hydroxyphenyl para-quinone methide-selective preparation of chiral hemiketals

A highly effective and enantioselective organocatalytic [4+2] cyclization has been disclosed, and a series of new chiral hemiketals containing chromane and succinimide frameworks have been firstly prepared in excellent results with 100% atom efficacy.

Synthesis and α-glucosidase inhibition activity of dihydroxy pyrrolidines

A new series of Deacetylsarmentamide A and B derivatives, amides and sulfonamides of 3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidines as α-glucosidase inhibitors were designed and synthesized. The biological screening test against α-glucosidase showed that some of these compounds have the positive inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase. Saturated aliphatic amides were more potent than the olefinic amides. Among all the compounds, 5o/6o having polar -NH₂ group, 10f/11f having polar -OH group on phenyl ring displayed 3-4-fold more potent than the standard drugs. Acarbose, Voglibose and Miglitol were used as standard references. The promising compounds 6i, 5o, 6o, 10a, 11a, 10f and 11f have been identified. Molecular docking simulations were done for compounds to identify important binding modes responsible for inhibition activity of α-glucosidase.

Urea vs. carbamate groups: a comparative study in a chiral C2 symmetric organogelator

The effect of the replacement of molecular moieties (carbamates vs. urea) that drive self-assembly for two organogelators with an identical C(2) symmetric molecular structure is described. The main properties of the gels obtained from the urea-based organogelators are also discussed. The proposed organogelators are chiral molecules and are able to express chirality also at the supramolecular level, thus allowing the employment of electronic circular dichroism to gain insight into the molecular-scale structure of fibrillar aggregates. With the same technique, the behavior of enantiomeric mixtures of the urea-based organogelators was investigated, revealing the occurrence of different self-sorting phenomena at the molecular and supramolecular scale. The urea-based organogelators demonstrated to be more efficient gelators with respect to the carbamate-based analogues, showing a high gel-to-sol transition temperature (up to 66 °C) and a very low minimum gelling concentration (0.85 mg mL(-1)). This study is a starting point for a deeper investigation of structure/property relationships and, taking into account the peculiar behavior detected for the enantiomeric mixtures, also of self-sorting and molecular recognition phenomena.

Synthesis, conformational studies, and biological properties of phosphonomethoxyethyl derivatives of nucleobases with a locked conformation via a pyrrolidine ring

Systematic structure-activity studies on a diverse family of nucleoside phosphonic acids has led to the development of potent antiviral drugs such as HPMPC (CidofovirTM), PMEA (AdefovirTM), and PMPA (TenofovirTM), which are used in the treatment of CMV-induced retinitis, hepatitis B, and HIV, respectively. Here, we present the synthesis of a novel class of acyclic phosphonate nucleotides that have a locked conformation via a pyrrolidine ring. NMR analysis of these compounds revealed that the pyrrolidine ring has a constrained conformation when in the cis-form at pD < 10 via hydrogen bonding. Four of these compounds were tested as inhibitors of the human and Plasmodium falciparum 6-oxopurine phosphoribosyltransferases. The most potent has a Ki of 0.6 μM for Plasmodium falciparum HGXPRT.

Pyrrolidine nucleotide analogs with a tunable conformation

Conformational preferences of the pyrrolidine ring in nucleotide analogs 7–14 were investigated by means of NMR and molecular modeling. The effect of the relative configuration of hydroxy and nucleobase substituents as well as the effect of the alkylation or acylation of the pyrrolidine nitrogen atom on the conformation of the pyrrolidine ring were studied. The results of a conformational analysis show that the alkylation/acylation can be effectively used for tuning the pyrrolidine conformation over the whole pseudorotation cycle.

Enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolution of N-Boc-trans-3-hydroxy-4-phenylpyrrolidine

The first enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolution of tert-butyl-3-hydroxy-4-phenylpyrrolidine-1-carboxylate is presented. Enzyme, solvent and temperature optimization resulted in a new resolution method with E = 40 enantioselectivity. The acetate derivative of the (+)-(3S,4R) enantiomer formed while the (−)-(3R,4S) isomer remained intact. Very good enantioselectivities (E &gt; 200) were achieved in the enzyme-catalyzed alcoholysis of the racemic acetate in i-propanol and t-butanol where the (+)-(3S,4R) enantiomer was prepared in pure form (ee &gt; 99.7%). Absolute configuration of the (−)-(3R,4S)-enantiomer was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction method.

Conformationally constrained nucleoside phosphonic acids – potent inhibitors of human mitochondrial and cytosolic 5′(3′)-nucleotidases

Conformationally constrained nucleoside phosphonic acids – potent inhibitors of human mitochondrial and cytosolic 5′(3′)-deoxynucleotidases.

N-phosphonocarbonylpyrrolidine derivatives of guanine: a new class of bi-substrate inhibitors of human purine nucleoside phosphorylase

A complete series of pyrrolidine nucleotides, (3R)- and (3S)-3-(guanin-9-yl)pyrrolidin-1-N-ylcarbonylphosphonic acids and (3S,4R)-, (3R,4S)-, (3S,4S)-, and (3R,4R)-4-(guanin-9-yl)-3-hydroxypyrrolidin-1-N-ylcarbonylphosphonic acids, were synthesized and evaluated as potential inhibitors of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and cell lines of myeloid and lymphoid origin. Two compounds, (S)-3-(guanin-9-yl)pyrrolidin-1-N-ylcarbonylphosphonic acid (2a) and (3S,4R)-4-(guanin-9-yl)-3-hydroxypyrrolidin-1-N-ylcarbonylphosphonic acid (6a), were recognized as nanomolar competitive inhibitors of PNP isolated from cell lines with K(i) values within the ranges of 16-100 and 10-24 nM, respectively. The low (MESG)K(i) and (Pi)K(i) values of both compounds for PNP isolated from PBMCs suggest that these compounds could be bisubstrate inhibitors that occupy both the phosphate and nucleoside binding sites of the enzyme.

Synthesis and hybridization of oligonucleotides modified at AMP sites with adenine pyrrolidine phosphonate nucleotides

Three structurally diverse types of the protected pyrrolidine nucleoside phosphonates were prepared as the monomers for the introduction of pyrrolidine nucleotide units into modified oligonucleotides on the solid phase. Two different chemistries were used for incorporation of modified and natural units: the phosphotriester method for the former, i.e., monomers containing N-phosphonoalkyl and N-phosphonoacyl moieties attached to the pyrrolidine ring nitrogen atom, and phosphoramidite chemistry for the latter. Since the synthesized pyrrolidine nucleoside phosphonic acids are close mimics of the 3′-deoxynucleoside 5′-phosphates, the incorporation of one modified unit into oligonucleotides gives rise to one 2′,5′ internucleotide linkage. A series of nonamers containing two or three modified units, as well as the fully modified adenine 15-mer, were synthesized in reverse order, i.e., from the 5′ to the 3′ end of the strand. The measurement of thermal characteristics of the complexes of modified nonamers with the complementary strand revealed a destabilizing effect of the introduced modification. The modified adenine homooligonucleotide, was found to form the most stable complex with oligothymidylate of all the tested modified oligonucleotides in terms of ΔTm per modification.

Synthesis of N-methyl-d-ribopyranuronamide nucleosides

The synthesis of N-methyl-d-ribopyranuronamide nucleosides is described. The key route is the rearrangement of a 1,2-O-isopropylidene protected furanose sugar with a carboxamide function in the 4-position to a ribopyranuronamide ring. The Lewis acid catalyzed condensation of adenine and thymine nucleobases with the per-O-acetylated N-methyl-d-ribopyranuronamide sugar is used to give the target nucleosides as a mixture of the α and β anomers. The mixture was separated and the final compounds were obtained by deacetylation in basic conditions.