Nucleosides. 100. General synthesis of pyrimidine C-5 cucleosides related to pseudouridine. Synthesis of 5-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl) isocytosine (pseudoisocytidine),5-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-2-thiouracil(2-thiopseudouridine) and 5-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)uracil(pseudouridine)

A selective and atom-economic rearrangement of uridine by cascade biocatalysis for production of pseudouridine

As a crucial factor of their therapeutic efficacy, the currently marketed mRNA vaccines feature uniform substitution of uridine (U) by the corresponding C-nucleoside, pseudouridine (Ψ), in 1-N-methylated form. Synthetic supply of the mRNA building block (1-N-Me-Ψ-5'-triphosphate) involves expedient access to Ψ as the principal challenge. Here, we show selective and atom-economic 1N-5C rearrangement of β-D-ribosyl on uracil to obtain Ψ from unprotected U in quantitative yield. One-pot cascade transformation of U in four enzyme-catalyzed steps, via D-ribose (Rib)-1-phosphate, Rib-5-phosphate (Rib5P) and Ψ-5'-phosphate (ΨMP), gives Ψ. Coordinated function of the coupled enzymes in the overall rearrangement necessitates specific release of phosphate from the ΨMP, but not from the intermediary ribose phosphates. Discovery of Yjjg as ΨMP-specific phosphatase enables internally controlled regeneration of phosphate as catalytic reagent. With driving force provided from the net N-C rearrangement, the optimized U reaction yields a supersaturated product solution (∼250 g/L) from which the pure Ψ crystallizes (90% recovery). Scale up to 25 g isolated product at enzyme turnovers of ∼10⁵mol/mol demonstrates a robust process technology, promising for Ψ production. Our study identifies a multistep rearrangement reaction, realized by cascade biocatalysis, for C-nucleoside synthesis in high efficiency.

Innovative Strategies for the Construction of Diverse 1'-Modified C-Nucleoside Derivatives

Modified C-nucleosides have proven to be enormously successful as chemical probes to understand fundamental biological processes and as small-molecule drugs for cancer and infectious diseases. Historically, the modification of the glycosyl unit has focused on the 2'-, 3'-, and 4'-positions as well as the ribofuranosyl ring oxygen. By contrast, the 1'-position has rarely been studied due to the labile nature of the anomeric position. However, the improved chemical stability of C-nucleosides allows the modification of the 1'-position with substituents not found in conventional N-nucleosides. Herein, we disclose new chemistry for the installation of diverse substituents at the 1'-position of C-nucleosides, including alkyl, alkenyl, difluoromethyl, and fluoromethyl substituents, using the 4-amino-7-(1'-hydroxy-d-ribofuranosyl)pyrrolo[2,1-f][1,2,4]triazine scaffold as a representative purine nucleoside mimetic.

New synthetic strategies for acyclic and cyclic pyrimidinethione nucleosides and their analogues

Pyrimidinethione nucleosides are effective compounds and have significant and pivotal effects in several fields. New synthetic strategies for many pyrimidinethione nucleosides including acyclic and cyclic derivatives have been reported.

Total synthesis of pseudouridineviaHeck-typeC-glycosylation

Pseudouridine (1) was synthesized by functional group interconversions of the Heck adduct11from 2,4-dimethoxy-5-iodopyrimidine (8) and ribofuranoid glycal4.

Synthesis and DNA topoisomerase-II inhibitory activity of unnatural nucleosides

The synthesis and biological activities of a number of unnatural nucleosides (23-43) is described. Nucleosides have been synthesized by SnCl4-catalyzed condensation of amino sugar acetates and silylated modified pyrimidines. Few of the 2'-O-acetyl derivatives of the nucleosides were hydrolyzed to the respective hydroxy derivatives by treatment with methanol saturated with ammonia. The compounds were screened against Filarial DNA-topoisomerase-II but only one of the compounds (29) inhibited this enzyme at 40 microg/mL of reaction mixture.

A versatile synthesis of dihydropyrimidinone C-nucleosides

A versatile synthesis of N-substituted dihydropyrimidinone C-nucleosides (20-29) is described. Glycosyl amino esters (3-9), obtained by reductive alkylation of glycosyl amino esters 1 and 2, on condensation with different isocyanates afforded respective ureido derivatives (10-19) in good to quantitative yields. The latter on cyclative amidation with a combination of DBU/TBAB (tetrabutylammonium bromide)/4A molecular sieve gave the corresponding nucleosides (20-29) in good yields.

PCR amplification of DNA containing non-standard base pairs by variants of reverse transcriptase from Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1

As the next step towards generating a synthetic biology from artificial genetic information systems, we have examined variants of HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) for their ability to synthesize duplex DNA incorporating the non-standard base pair between 2,4-diaminopyrimidine (pyDAD), a pyrimidine presenting a hydrogen bond 'donor-acceptor-donor' pattern to the complementary base, and xanthine (puADA), a purine presenting a hydrogen bond 'acceptor-donor-acceptor' pattern. This base pair fits the Watson-Crick geometry, but is joined by a pattern of hydrogen bond donor and acceptor groups different from those joining the GC and AT pairs. A variant of HIV-RT where Tyr 188 is replaced by Leu, has emerged from experiments where HIV was challenged to grow in the presence of drugs targeted against the RT, such as L-697639, TIBO and nevirapine. These drugs bind at a site near, but not in, the active site. This variant accepts the pyDAD-puADA base pair significantly better than wild type HIV-RT, and we used this as a starting point. A second mutation, E478Q, was introduced into the Y188L variant, in the event that the residual nuclease activity observed is due to the RT, and not a contaminant. The doubly mutated RT incorporated the non-standard pair with sufficient fidelity that the variant could be used to amplify oligonucleotides containing pyDAD and puADA through several rounds of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) without losing the non-standard base pair. This is the first time where DNA containing non-standard base pairs with alternative hydrogen bonding patterns has been amplified by a full PCR. This work also illustrates a research strategy that combines in clinico pre-evolution of proteins followed by rational design to obtain an enzyme that meets a particular technological specification.