Conversion of 9-substituted adenines to the corresponding purines: a simple deamination method for adenine derivatives

N8-Glycosylated 8-Azapurine and Methylated Purine Nucleobases: Synthesis and Study of Base Pairing Properties

In this report, we present the synthesis of N⁸-glycosylated 8-aza-2-methylhypoxanthine and 8-aza-6-thiohypoxanthine 2'-deoxynucleosides as well as methylated 2'-deoxynebularine derivatives. In vitro base pairing properties between each modified and canonical nucleobase were studied. As demonstrated by T_m, incorporation of the modified bases in DNA resulted, with few exceptions, in low stability of duplexes. Modified bases studied in this report are preferentially recognized by T (for N⁸-glycosylated 8-aza-2-methylhypoxanthine and methylated purines) and G (N⁸-glycosylated 8-aza-2-methylhypoxanthine). The base pair formed between N⁸-glycosylated 8-aza-6-thiohypoxanthine and N⁹-glycosylated 2-methyl-6-thiohypoxanthine (X2:X6) showed, to some extent, an orthogonal interaction. Based on T_m studies, the only potential self-pairing system is formed by the N⁸-glycosylated 8-aza-6-thiohypoxanthine nucleoside (X2) but only in the absence of canonical G and T. This study indicated that the canonical thymine base is the preferential base partner of methylated purine bases.

Nitric oxide promotes recycling of 8-nitro-cGMP, a cytoprotective mediator, into intact cGMP in cells

8-Nitro-cGMP is an endogenous nucleotide discovered under inflammation conditions as an important mediator of nitric oxide (NO) signaling. Besides cGMP-like behaviour, 8-nitro-cGMP exerts unique cytoprotective effects against oxidative stress. Although the formation of 8-nitro-cGMP from 8-nitro-GTP has previously been proposed, the mechanism by which excess or unused 8-nitro-cGMP is removed from cells remains unknown. In this study, we report a nitric oxide-dependent cellular conversion of 8-nitro-cGMP to intact cGMP in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. In our experiments, we synthesized isotopically labeled 8-nitro-cGMP as a tool for metabolites analysis and identified 8-amino-cGMP as an initial metabolite of 8-nitro-cGMP using a LC-MS/MS technique. We also proved that endogenous 8-nitro-cGMP can be converted into 8-amino-cGMP by immunocytochemical staining with an antibody that specifically recognizes 8-amino-cGMP. Moreover, we showed that isotopically labeled 8-amino-cGMP is metabolized into cGMP under inflammation conditions. We propose that nitrosylation of 8-amino-cGMP occurs by NO formation under stress conditions and gives putative 8-diazonium-cGMP, which subsequently decomposes into cGMP. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report reductive deamination of aminoguanine nucleotide at the C-8 position. The findings of this study collectively indicate that NO plays a crucial role not only in the production of 8-nitro-cGMP but also in its elimination under oxidative stress or inflammation.

Nitrosative Adenine Deamination: Facile Pyrimidine Ring-Opening in the Dediazoniation of Adeninediazonium Ion

[reaction: see text]. Dediazoniation of adeninediazonium ion, 1, forms the heteroaromatic cation, 2. Ab initio studies at the CCSD(fc)/6-31G**//MP2(full)/6-31G** level now reveal that the cyclic cation 2 is kinetically and thermodynamically unstable with respect to the pyrimidine ring-opened cation, 3. The results suggest that 4-cyano-5-isocyano-imidazole, 4, and 4,5-dicyanoimidazole, 5, might be formed to some extent in nitrosative deaminations of adenine.