De novo synthesis of two new cytotoxic tiazofurin analogues with modified sugar moieties

Structure based design, synthesis and in vitro antitumour activity of tiazofurin stereoisomers with nitrogen functions at the C-2' or C-3' positions

Three novel tiazofurin analogues having d-arabino stereochemistry and nitrogen functionalities at the C-2' position (5-7) have been designed and synthesized in multistep sequences, starting from d-glucose. The known d-xylo stereoisomer of 1 (compound 2) along with two new analogues bearing nitrogen functions at the C-3' (3 and 4) has also been synthesized from the same sugar precursor. The synthetic sequence consisted of the following three stages: (i) the multistep synthesis of suitably protected pentofuranosyl cyanides, (ii) the construction of ethyl thiazole-4-carboxylate part by cyclocondensation of thus obtained glycofuranosyl cyanides with l-cysteine ethyl ester followed by dehydrogenation, and (iii) the final transformation of the ethyl thiazole-4-carboxylates into the target tiazofurin analogues using the esters ammonolysis. The tiazofurin analogues were evaluated for their antitumour activities in cell-culture-based assays. Compounds 3, 4 (d-xylo) and 7 (d-arabino), showed remarkable antitumour activities, with IC₅₀ values in the range of 4-7 nM. Preliminary structure-activity relationship allowed identification of two analogues with antiproliferative activities exceeding that of the parent compound 1 for several orders of magnitude (e.g. 4: 1354-fold against Raji, 7: 309-fold against K562). Flow cytometry data and Western blot analysis suggested that cytotoxic effects of d-xylo stereoisomers in the culture of K562 cells caused changes in the cell cycle distribution, as well as the induction of apoptosis in caspase-dependent way. The increase of apoptotic cells percentage in treated samples is also confirmed with fluorescent double-staining method. Genotoxicity testing showed that the analogues with the xylo-configuration (2-4) are far less genotoxic than tiazofurin.

Novel pyranopyrazoles: synthesis and theoretical studies

A series of pyranopyrazoles, namely, 7-(2-aminoethyl)-3,4-dimethyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridin-6(7H)-one (2), (Z)-3,4-dimethyl-1-(4-((4-nitrobenzylidene)amino)phenyl)pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazol-6(1H)-one (5), 1-(4-(3,4-dimethyl-6-oxopyrano[2,3-c]pyrazol-1(6H)-yl)phenyl)-3-(naphthalen-1-yl)urea (6), (Z)-ethyl 4-((3,4-dimethyl-6-oxo-1,6-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazol-5-yl)diazenyl)benzoate (8) and 3,4-dimethyl-N-(naphthalen-1-yl)-6-oxopyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole-1(6H)-carboxamide (9) were synthesized and characterized by means of their UV-VIS, FT-IR, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectral data. Density Functional Theory calculations of the synthesized pyranopyrazoles were performed using molecular structures with optimized geometries. Molecular orbital calculations have provided detail description of the orbitals, including spatial characteristics, nodal patterns, and the contributions of individual atoms.

Synthesis and antitumour activity of new tiazofurin analogues bearing a 2,3-anhydro functionality in the furanose ring

This paper describes a divergent de novo synthesis of 2-(2,3-anhydro-beta-dribofuranosyl)thiazole-4-carboxamide (2',3'-anhydro-tiazofurin) and the corresponding alpha- and beta-homo-C-nucleosides, as well as evaluation of their antitumour activities in vitro.

2-(3-Amino-3-deoxy-β-d-xylofuranosyl)thiazole-4-carboxamide: A new tiazofurin analogue with potent antitumour activity

A new tiazofurin analogue, 2-(3-amino-3-deoxy-beta-d-xylofuranosyl)thiazole-4-carboxamide (3), was synthesized starting from d-glucose and evaluated for its in vitro antiproliferative activity against a panel of human tumour cell lines. Compound 3 exhibited the most powerful cytotoxicity against K562 cells, being approximately 100-fold more potent than tiazofurin. This analogue was also active against Jurkat, HT-29 and HeLa malignant cells, with respective IC(50) values being ca. 2-, 27- and 17-fold lower than those observed for tiazofurin. Remarkably, compound 3 did not exhibit any significant cytotoxicity towards normal foetal lung MRC-5 cell line.

Synthesis and biological activity of some new 5′-O-acyl tiazofurin derivatives

Three new 5'-O-acyl tiazofurin derivatives 2-4 were synthesized and evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against different tumour cell lines as well as for their ability to induce apoptosis in C6 cells in vitro. Apart of the antitumour assays, the cell membrane permeation of 2-4 and their intracellular metabolism in C6 cells in vitro was also studied in order to evaluate their potential as possible tiazofurin bioisosteres or prodrugs.

Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of two new tiazofurin analogues with 2'-amido functionalities

Two novel tiazofurin analogues 2 and 3 were synthesized starting from d-glucose. The key step of the synthesis was the efficient one-step hydrogen sulfide-mediated conversion of 2-azido-3-O-acyl-ribofuranosyl cyanides to the corresponding 2-amido thiocarboxamides. Compounds 2 and 3 were evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity against certain human tumour cell lines. Remarkably, compound 2 was found to be 570-fold more potent than tiazofurin against MCF-7 cells, while compound 3 showed the most powerful cytotoxicity against HT-29 cancer cells, being almost 100-fold more active than tiazofurin.

Zinc(II) Triflate-Controlled 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions of C-(2-Thiazolyl)nitrones: Application to the Synthesis of a Novel Isoxazolidinyl Analogue of Tiazofurin

[reaction: see text] The cycloaddition reaction between C-(2-thiazolyl) nitrones and allylic alcohol takes place with complete exo selectivity when the reactions are carried out in the presence of 1 equiv of zinc triflate. The rate of the reaction is increased enormously under microwave irradiation. The use of a chiral dipolarophile allowed application of the methodology to the synthesis of a hitherto unknown enantiomerically pure isoxazolidinyl analogue of the C-nucleoside tiazofurin.