Purin-8-ones as corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH-R1) receptor antagonists

Design, synthesis, structural optimization, SAR, in silico prediction of physicochemical properties and pharmacological evaluation of novel & potent thiazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) receptor antagonists

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is a 41-amino-acid neuropeptide secreted from the hypothalamus and is the main regulator of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. CRF is the master hormone which modulates physiological and behavioral responses to stress. Many disorders including anxiety, depression, addictive disorders and others are related to over activation of the CRF system. This suggests that new molecules which can interfere with CRF binding to its receptors may be potential candidates for neuropsychiatric drugs to treat stress-related disorders. Previously, three series of pyrimidine and fused pyrimidine CRF₁ receptor antagonists were synthesized by our group and specific binding assays, competitive binding studies and determination of the ability to antagonize the agonist-stimulated accumulation of cAMP (the second messenger for CRF receptors) were reported. In continuation of our efforts in this direction, in the current manuscript, we report the synthesis & biological evaluation of a new series of CRF₁ receptor antagonists. Seven compounds showed promising binding affinity with the best two compounds (compounds 6 & 43) displaying a superior binding affinity to all of our previous compounds. Compounds 6 & 43 have only 4 times and 2 times less binding affinity than the standard CRF antagonist antalarmin, respectively. Thus, our two best lead compounds (compound 6 & 43) can be considered potent CRF receptor antagonists with binding affinity of 41.0 & 19.2 nM versus 9.7 nM for antalarmin.

Iodine-catalyzed oxidative functionalization of purines with (thio)ethers or methylarenes for the synthesis of purin-8-one analogues

An efficient oxidative functionalization of purine-like substrates with (thio)ethers or methylarenes under mild conditions is described. Using I2 as the catalyst, and TBHP as the oxidant, this protocol provides a valuable synthetic tool for the assembly of a wide range of 9-alkyl(benzyl)purin-8-one derivatives with high atom- and step-economy and exceptional functional group tolerance.

Synthesis of Novel N9-Substituted Purine Derivatives from Polymer Supported α-Amino Acids

Solid-phase synthesis of purine derivatives bearing an α-amino acid motif in position 9 is described herein. Polymer supported amines were acylated with various Fmoc-α-amino acids and, after cleavage of the protecting group, arylation with 4,6-dichloro-5-nitropyrimidine or 2,4-dichloro-5-nitropyrimidine was performed. The second chlorine atom was replaced with various amines. Subsequent reduction of the nitro group, followed by reaction with aldehydes, afforded the purine scaffold. After cleavage from the polymer support, the target compounds were obtained in very good crude purity, good overall yields, and excellent enantiomeric purity. The anticancer activity of prepared compounds was tested in vitro against human cancer cell lines MCF7 and K562, and they were found to have mild, but clear dose-dependent effects.

Trifluoroethanol solvent facilitates selective N-7 methylation of purines

Purines protected at N-9 by p-methoxybenzyl are methylated or ethylated in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol at N-7 by trimethyl- or triethyl-oxonium borofluorate, respectively. Subjecting the resulting cationic species to microwave irradiation releases an N(7)-methyl- or ethyl-purine. This one-pot procedure is an efficient regiospecific method applicable to diverse substrates.

The purines: potent and versatile small molecule inhibitors and modulators of key biological targets

The goal of this review is to highlight the wide range of biological activities displayed by purines, with particular emphasis on new purine-based agents which find potential application as chemical-biology tools and/or therapeutic agents. The expanding interest in the biological properties of polyfunctionalized purine derivatives issues, in large part, from the development of rapid high-throughput screening essays for new protein targets, and the corresponding development of efficient synthetic methodology adapted to the construction of highly diverse purine libraries. Purine-based compounds have found new applications as inducers of interferon and lineage-committed cell dedifferentiation, agonists and antagonists of adenosine receptors, ligands of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptors, and as inhibitors of HSP90, Src kinase, p38alpha MAP kinase, sulfotransferases, phosphodiesterases, and Cdks. The scope of application of purines in biology is most certainly far from being exhausted. Testing purine derivatives against the multitude of biological targets for which small molecule probes have not yet been found should thus be a natural reflex.

First dual M3 antagonists-PDE4 inhibitors: synthesis and SAR of 4,6-diaminopyrimidine derivatives

SAR around 4,6-diaminopyrimidine derivatives allowed the discovery of the first potent dual M(3) antagonists and PDE4 inhibitors. Various chemical modulations around that scaffold led to the discovery of ucb-101333-3 which is characterized by the most interesting profile on both targets.

Solid-phase synthesis of 7-substituted 3H-imidazo[2,1-i]purines

A method for solid-supported synthesis of N,N-disubstituted (3H-imidazo[2,1-i]purin-7-yl)methyl amines has been developed. The key features of this library synthesis are: (i) immobilization of commercially available N6-benzoyl-5'-O-(4,4'-dimethoxytrityl)-2'-deoxyadenosine 3'-(2-cyanoethyl N,N-diisopropylphosphoramidite) by phosphitylation to a hydroxyl-functionalized support, (ii) quantitative conversion of the deprotected adenine base to 3H-imidazo[2,1-i]purine-7-carbaldehyde with bromomalonaldehyde in DMF in the presence of formic acid and 2,6-lutidine, (iii) reductive amination of the formyl group followed by N-alkylation or N-acylation, and (iv) release from the support by acidolytic cleavage of the N-glycosidic bond. Steps (ii) and (iii) have been optimized in some detail by using (adenin-9-yl)acetic acid anchored to a Phe-Wang resin as a model compound.

Synthesis of 6-substituted 9-benzyl-8-hydroxypurines with potential interferon-inducing activity

Various 6-substituted 9-benzyl-8-hydroxypurines were synthesized in order to investigate the structure-activity relationship at the 6-position of 9-benzyl-8-hydroxyadenine (1), which is a lead compound for the screening of interferon (IFN)-inducing activity. 6-Unsubstituted, mercapto-, methylthio- and hydroxy-9-benzyl-8-hydroxypurines (2-5) were prepared from 5-amino-1-benzyl-4-cyano-2-hydroxyimidazole (9). Synthesis of a 6-methoxy analog (6) was conducted from 5-amino-4-benzylamino-6-chloropyrimidine (13). 6-Alkylamino and acylaminopurines (7 and 8) were also prepared by alkylation and acylation of 1, respectively. Since these compounds (2-8) indicated no activity, it was found that a free amino group of 1 is required for the expression of IFN-inducing activity.

CRHR1 Receptor binding and lipophilicity of pyrrolopyrimidines, potential nonpeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone type 1 receptor antagonists

A series of compounds related to N-butyl-N-ethyl[2,5,6-trimethyl-7-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl]amine (1, antalarmin) have been prepared and evaluated for their CRHR1 binding affinity as the initial step in the development of selective high affinity hydrophilic nonpeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone type 1 receptor (CRHR1) antagonists. Calculated log P (Clog P) values were used to evaluate the rank order of hydrophilicity for these analogues. Introducing oxygenated functionalities (delta-hydroxy or bis-beta-ethereal) into 1 gave more hydrophilic compounds, which had good affinity for the receptor. Introducing an amino group or shortening the alkyl side chain was detrimental to CRHR1 affinity. The alcohol 4-[ethyl[2,5,6-trimethyl-7-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl]amino]butan-1-ol (3), bearing a terminal hydroxyl group on an N-alkyl side-chain, showed the highest CRHR1 binding affinity among these compounds (K(i)=0.68 nM), and is one of the highest affinity CRHR1 ligands known. Compounds 3-5, and 8, which are likely to be less lipophilic than 1, have high CRHR1 affinity and may be valuable probes to further study the CRH system.

Combinatorial liquid-phase synthesis of structurally diverse benzimidazole libraries

An expedient liquid-phase synthesis for construction of the diverse benzimidazole libraries is described. Nucleophilic aryl substitution of poly(ethylene glycol)-supported 4-fluoro-3-nitrobenzoic acid 3 with several primary amines under basic conditions, followed by Zn/NH(4)Cl mediated nitro group reduction, gave the PEG bound diamines 5. Subsequent cyclization of immobilized o-phenylenediamine 5 using thiocarbonyldiimidazole (TCD) or thiophosgene in dichloromethane furnished benzimidazole-2-thiones 6. Treatment of 6 with alkyl halides and benzylic halides in the presence of triethylamine provided 1-substituted-2-alkylthio-5-carbamoylbenzimidazoles on the support. The desired products 8 were severed from the PEG under mild conditions in high yield and high purity.

Thiazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine thiones and -ones as corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH-R1) receptor antagonists

A series of thiazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine thiones and -ones was prepared and discovered to have good binding affinity to the CRH-R1 receptor, thus showing promise as a new class of potential anxiolytics and/or antidepressants.