Correlations of nitrenium ion selectivities with quantitative mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of the corresponding amines

Mutagenicity of N-acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides as an indicator of DNA intercalation: The role of fluorene and fluorenone substituents as DNA intercalators

N-Acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides are direct-acting mutagens in S. typhimurium TA100 and TA98. A reliable QSAR for their activity in TA100 has been developed, which indicates reversible intercalation into the DNA helix through naphthalene substituents. In this paper, we show that fluorene as a substituent does not facilitate intercalation while fluorenone does, although the efficacy is determined by the position of substitution on the fluorenone as well as the N-acyloxy-N-alkoxyamide side chain. Where intercalation is evident, the increased binding to DNA is similar to that of naphthalene and is worth the equivalent of ca four LogP hydrophobicity units. 4-Substituted fluorenones, where the anomeric amide group is in the bay region do not intercalate, which is attributed to the requirement for a weaker edge-on, rather than an end-on intercalation. Mutagencity in S. typhimurium TA98, which detects frame shifts through intercalation, supports the findings. Fluorene appears not to intercalate, which points to the fact that the charge delocalised 2-fluorenylnitrenium ion, the ultimate metabolite from 2-aminofluorene (AF) and 2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) is the itercalating agent responsible for frameshift mutations leading to their carcinogenicity.

Novel aminoarylcysteine adducts in globin of rats dosed with naphthylamine and nitronaphthalene isomers

Novel aminonaphthylcysteine (ANC) adducts, formed via naphthylnitrenium ions and/or their metabolic precursors in the biotransformation of naphthylamines (NA) and nitronaphthalenes (NN), were identified and quantified in globin of rats dosed intraperitoneally with 0.16 mmol/kg b.w. of 1-NA, 1-NN, 2-NA and 2-NN. Using HPLC-ESI-MS2 analysis of the globin hydrolysates, S-(1-amino-2-naphthyl)cysteine (1A2NC) together with S-(4-amino-1-naphthyl)cysteine (4A1NC) were found in rats given 1-NA or 1-NN, and S-(2-amino-1-naphthyl)cysteine (2A1NC) in those given 2-NA or 2-NN. The highest level of ANC was produced by the most mutagenic and carcinogenic isomer 2-NA (35.8 ± 5.4 nmol/g globin). The ratio of ANC adduct levels for 1-NA, 1-NN, 2-NA and 2-NN was 1:2:100:3, respectively. Notably, the ratio of 1A2NC:4A1NC in globin of rats dosed with 1-NA and 1-NN differed significantly (2:98 versus 16:84 respectively), indicating differences in mechanism of the adduct formation. Moreover, aminonaphthylmercapturic acids, formed via conjugation of naphthylnitrenium ions and/or their metabolic precursors with glutathione, were identified in the rat urine. Their amounts excreted after dosing rats with 1-NA, 1-NN, 2-NA and 2-NN were in the ratio 1:100:40:2, respectively. For all four compounds tested, haemoglobin binding index for ANC was several-fold higher than that for the sulphinamide adducts, generated via nitrosoarene metabolites. Due to involvement of electrophilic intermediates in their formation, ANC adducts in globin may become toxicologically more relevant biomarkers of cumulative exposure to carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic arylamines and nitroarenes than the currently used sulphinamide adducts.

QSAR Models towards Cholinesterase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurological syndrome with the combination of aging, genetic, and environmental factors triggering the pathological decline. Interestingly, the importance of the Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme has increased due to its involvement in the ß-amyloid peptide fibril formation during AD pathogenesis. In silico technique, QSAR has proven its usefulness in pharmaceutical research for the design/optimization of new chemical entities. Further, QSAR method advanced the scope of rational drug design and the search for the mechanism of drug action. It is a well-established fact that the chemical and pharmaceutical effects of a compound are closely related to its physico-chemical properties, which can be calculated by various methods from the compound structure. This chapter focuses on different Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) studies carried out for a variety of cholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of AD. These predictive models will be potentially used for further designing better and safer drugs against AD.

Theoretical Investigations into the Role of Aryl Nitrenium Ions' Stability on Their Mutagenic Potential

By using Mulliken and Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) methods based on the density functional theory (DFT), partial charges of exocyclic nitrogen atoms were calculated for nitrenium ions formed from 201 known drugs and 50 Ames positive (mutagenic) compounds containing aryl amine and nitro moieties. The statistical difference of the partial charges was analysed based on the hypothesis that the mutagens have a more negative charge on their exocyclic nitrogen atom resulting in stable nitrenium ions, and thus a longer lifetime to react selectively with DNA; whereas known drugs are not in general mutagenic and therefore have a relatively more positive partial charge. The nitrenium ions with 1° amine parent compounds did not show a statistical difference between drugs and mutagens based on the Mulliken charges. A slight difference was observed in the NBO data where the drugs have more negative partial charge on their exocyclic nitrogen atoms compared with the mutagens. Interestingly, nitrenium ions with aryl nitro drugs as their parent compounds have more negative charge on the exocyclic nitrogen compared with the other drug classes. Aryl nitro drugs are relatively scarce and are often linked to genotoxicity, which fits with the hypotheses proposed. These results indicate that other physical properties besides the stability of the nitrenium ions are important to determine the mutagenic potential of aryl amine and nitro containing compounds.

Known drug space as a metric in exploring the boundaries of drug-like chemical space

In this work, marketed drug compounds (or known drug space) were used as a metric to test the principles of eliminating parent structures of the nitrenium ion (aryl-amine/nitro compounds) as well as sulphur and halogen containing molecules from screening compound collections. Molecules containing such moieties and/or atoms have biological and physiochemical properties, which possibly make them less attractive as leads in drug development. It was found that precursors to the nitrenium ion were relatively abundant in known drug space at 14%. Thus, their simple elimination from drug-like chemical space is not advisable. Interestingly, the mutagenic potential of the nitrenium ions is linked to their stability and quantum mechanical calculations can be used to estimate it. Furthermore, 24% of drugs investigated contained sulphur atoms and around 28% were halogenated. As some sulphur containing moieties were abundant whilst others were scarce, it was deduced that it would be more effective to eliminate specific molecular scaffolds rather than all sulphur containing molecules. In conclusion, it has been shown that by statistically analysing known drug space a better understanding of the boundaries of drug-like chemical space was established which can help medicinal chemists in finding rewarding regions of chemical space.

Mutagenic potential of nitrenium ions of nitrobenzanthrones: correlation between theory and experiment

The mutagenic activity of nine substituted nitrobenzanthrone (NBA) derivatives was recently established in the Ames assay and ranged from near inactivity to extremely high mutagenic activity (Takamura-Enya et al. 2006: Mutagenesis 21:399-404). Using thermochemical and molecular modeling techniques, the activation pathway of these NBA derivatives, namely 1-nitro-, 2-nitro-, 3-nitro-, 9-nitro-, 11-nitro-, 1,9-dinitro-, 3,9-dinitro-, 3,11-dinitro-, and 3,9,11-trinitrobenzanthrone, and the formation of the corresponding aryl-nitrenium ions, were investigated using density functional theory calculations. The calculated properties of the NBA derivatives were systematically compared with their bacterial mutagenic potency. Accommodation of the ligand substrates into the binding pocket of the bacterial nitroreductases was not sterically inhibited for the NBAs. Moreover, electron affinities, water elimination energies, esterification, and solvolysis energies did not reveal any possible links with the observed mutagenic potency of the NBAs. However, a strong negative linear correlation was found when the relative energies of the nitrenium ions of the mono and disubstituted NBAs were plotted against the logarithm of the mutagenic potency of the NBAs found in the different Salmonella typhimurium strains. Therefore, our data clearly indicate that the stability of the nitrenium ions is one critical determinant of the mutagenic potency of NBAs in Salmonella tester strains.

A novel QSAR model for prediction of apoptosis-inducing activity of 4-aryl-4-H-chromenes based on support vector machine

In this work some chemometrics methods were applied for modeling and prediction of the induction of apoptosis by 4-aryl-4-H-chromenes with descriptors calculated from the molecular structure alone. The genetic algorithm (GA) and stepwise multiple linear regression methods were used to select descriptors which are responsible for the apoptosis-inducing activity of these compounds. Then support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), and multiple linear regression (MLR) were utilized to construct the nonlinear and linear quantitative structure-activity relationship models. The obtained results using SVM were compared with ANN and MLR; it revealed that the GA-SVM model was much better than other models. The root-mean-square errors of the training set and the test set for GA-SVM model are 0.181, 0.241 and the correlation coefficients were 0.950, 0.924, respectively, and the obtained statistical parameters of cross validation test on GA-SVM model were Q(2)=0.71 and SRESS=0.345 which revealed the reliability of this model. The results were also compared with previous published model and indicate the superiority of the present GA-SVM model.

Ultrafast Spectroscopic and Matrix Isolation Studies of p-Biphenylyl, o-Biphenylyl, and 1-Naphthylnitrenium Cations

p-biphenylyl, o-biphenylyl, and 1-naphthyl azides were deposited in argon at low temperature in the presence and absence of HCl. In the absence of HCl, the known electronic and vibrational spectra of the corresponding triplet nitrenes, azirines, and didehydroazepines were observed, whereas in the presence of HCl, photolysis of these azides produces new electronic spectra assigned to the corresponding nitrenium cations. For p-biphenylyl azide the resulting spectrum of the nitrenium ion is very similar to the previously observed solution-phase spectrum of this species. The vibrational spectrum of this cation was recorded for the first time. Spectroscopic evidence for the previously unknown o-biphenylylnitrenium cation and 1-naphthylnitrenium cation are provided. The spectra of p- and o-biphenylylnitrenium cations and 1-naphthylnitrenium cation are well reproduced by CASSCF and CASPT2 calculations. The same nitrenium cations were detected in solution by femtosecond time-resolved laser flash photolysis of the appropriate azides in 88% formic acid. The transient spectra of the nitrenium cations recorded in solution are in good agreement with the spectra obtained in HCl matrices. The rates of formation of these cations equal the rates of decay of the singlet nitrenes in 88% formic acid and are as follows: p-biphenylyl (taugrowth = 11.5 ps), o-biphenylyl (taugrowth = 7.7 ps), and 1-naphthylnitrenium cations (taugrowth = 8.4 ps). The decay lifetimes of p- and o-biphenylylnitrenium cations are 50 and 27 ns, respectively. The decay lifetimes of 1-naphthylnitrenium cation is 860 ps in 88% formic acid.

Synthesis and Decomposition of an Ester Derivative of the Procarcinogen and Promutagen, PhIP, 2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine: Unusual Nitrenium Ion Chemistry

The food-derived heterocyclic amine (HCA) carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine, PhIP, is often generated in the highest concentration of the HCAs formed during broiling and frying of meat and fish. Although it is considered to be an important contributor to human cancer risk from exposure to HCAs, the chemistry of PhIP metabolites that presumably react with DNA to initiate carcinogenesis has received only cursory attention. We have synthesized the ester derivative N-pivaloxy-2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine, 1b, and investigated its chemistry in aqueous solution. Although 1b was too unstable to isolate, we could characterize it by NMR methods in DMF-d7, a solvent in which it is stable at -40 degrees C. It decomposed rapidly in aqueous solution, but its conjugate acid, 1bH+, is not reactive. The nitrenium ion, 2, was trapped by N(3)(-) to form the unusual tetrazole adduct, 16. In the absence of N3-, the expected hydration products of 2 were not detected, but the reduction product, 12, was detected. Although such products are often taken as evidence of triplet nitrenium ions, the efficient trapping of 2 by N(3)(-) indicates that it is a ground state singlet species. The product 12 appears to be generated by reduction of an initially formed hydration product of 2. An alternative addition-elimination mechanism for the formation of 12 does not fit the available kinetic data. The selectivity of 2, measured as kaz/ks, the ratio of the second-order rate constant for its reaction with N(3)(-) and the first-order rate constant for its reaction with the aqueous solvent, is (2.3 +/- 0.6) x 10(4) M(-1), a value that is in the middle of the range of k(az)/k(s) of 10-10(6) M(-1) observed for nitrenium ions derived from other HCAs. The mutagenicity of aromatic amines (AAs) and HCAs, measured as the log of histidine revertants per nanomole of amine, log m, in Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100 correlates with log(k(az)/k(s)) for a wide variety of carbocyclic and heterocyclic amine mutagens including PhIP. Previously developed linear regression models for mutagenicity that include log(k(az)/k(s)) as an independent variable predict log m for PhIP with good accuracy in both TA 98 and TA 100. Quantitative carcinogenicity data are less strongly correlated with log(k(az)/k(s)), so prediction of the carcinogenicity of PhIP and other HCAs or AAs based primarily on log(k(az)/k(s)) is less successful.

Computational studies of the properties of phenyloxenium ions — A comparison with phenylnitrenium and phenylcarbenium ions

Properties of phenyloxenium ion 13a, phenylnitrenium ion 14a, and their 4-methyl and 4-phenyl analogues have been studied at the HF/6-31G* and pBP/DN*//HF/6-31G* levels to explain differences in their relative ease of formation and their stabilities. The phenyloxenium ions 13 are ground-state singlets but S0–T1 gaps are smaller than those of the corresponding nitrenium ions. The S0 states are stabilized by donor methyl and phenyl substituents in both classes of ions, but phenyloxenium ion has much greater charge localization on the ring, primarily at the 4 position. Evidence for this difference stems from ground-state HF/6-31G*geometries, dipole moments, and vibrational frequencies. Nitrenium ions exhibit some quinoidal character, but the calculated C—N bond lengths are longer than those of their 4-hydroxy-2,5-cyclohexadienone imine hydration products 17 and the symmetric C-N stretching frequencies are ca. 60–100 cm–1 less than those of 17. However, the C—O bond lengths and stretching frequencies of the phenyloxenium ions are slightly shorter and greater, respectively, than those of their 4-hydroxy-2,5-cyclohexadienone hydration products (16). The oxenium ions are best described by their 4-oxo-2,5-cyclohexadienyl carbenium resonance structures. Accordingly, a 4-phenyl group stabilizes the phenyloxenium ion more than the phenylnitrenium ion leading to a planar geometry and considerably more charge in the distal ring, thus accounting for regioselectivities of azide reactions. Isodesmic comparisons of the energy difference between phenyloxenium and phenylnitrenium ions and their neutral hydration products explains their relative stabilities under aqueous conditions; whereas 4-biphenylyloxenium ion 13c has a lifetime in water of 12 ns as opposed to the corresponding nitrenium ion 14c (300 ns), the 4-methylphenyloxenium ion 13b is less stable to hydration by 18.7 kcal mol–1 (1 cal = 4.184 J) and cannot be observed under the conditions used to generate 13c.Key words: oxenium ions, nitrenium ions, computational chemistry, nucleophilic addition, singlet state properties.