Nucleosides. LXII. Synthesis of 6-Methyl-8-(2-deoxy-β-D-ribofuranosyl)-isoxanthopterin and Derivatives

Differential fluorescence quenching of fluorescent nucleic acid base analogues by native nucleic acid monophosphates

Fluorescent nucleic acid base analogues (FBAs) are used widely as probes of DNA and RNA structure and dynamics. Of increasing utility are the pteridone adenosine analogues (6MAP, DMAP) and pteridine guanosine analogues (3MI, 6MI). These FBAs (collectively referred to as PTERs) are useful, in part, because their fluorescence quantum yields, Phi(f), are modulated by base stacking with native bases (NBs), making them sensitive reporters of DNA structure. The quenching mechanism has been hypothesized to be photoinduced electron transfer following selective excitation of the FBA, but hard evidence for this has been lacking. The degree of quenching shows some dependence on the neighboring bases, but there has been no real determination as to whether FBA*:NB complexes satisfy the basic thermodynamic requirement for spontaneous PET: a negative free energy for the electron transfer reaction. Indeed, quenching may result from entirely different mechanisms. To address these questions, Stern-Volmer (S-V) experiments were performed using the native-base monophosphate nucleotides (NMPs) GMP, AMP, CMP, and dTMP in aqueous solutions as quenchers to obtain quenching rate constants, k(q). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and optical absorption and emission data of the PTERS were obtained in aprotic organic solvents. These data were used to obtain excited-state redox potentials from which electron transfer free energies were derived using the Rehm-Weller equation. The reorganization energies for PET were obtained using the Scandola-Balzani equation, taking into account the free energy contribution due to water. 6MAP*, DMAP*, and 3MI* gave negative free energies between -0.1 and -0.2 eV and reorganization energies of about 0.13 eV. They all displayed ET activation energies below the accessible thermal energy (0.038 eV = 3/2k(B)T, where k(B) is Boltzmann's constant) for all NMPs with the exception of CMP, whose activation barrier was only about 35% higher (approximately 0.05 eV). Thus, we conclude that these PTERs act as electron acceptors and promote NMP oxidation. However, 6MI* had positive ET free energies for all NMPs with the exception of GMP (and then only for nucleobase oxidation). The magnitudes of these free energies (> or = 0.45 eV for AMP, CMP, and dTMP) suggest that 6MI* may not quenched by PET.

Nucleosides part LXVI I: synthesis of 4-amino-7(8H)pteridinone-N8-nucleosides-structural analogs of adenosine

Various 4-amino-7(8H)pteridones (6, 12, 14, 15, 20, 22) have been glycosylated with 1-chloro-2'-deoxy-D-ribofuranose derivatives (25, 26) applying the new DBU-salt method to form the N(8)-2'-deoxy-D-ribofuranosides (27-36) which can be regarded as 2'-deoxyadenosine analogs. Analogously reacted the 2-N,N-dimethyl-amino-methyleneimino-7(8H)pteridones (43-48) to give preferentially the corresponding N(8)-beta-D-anomers (49-55). Ribosylation with 1-bromo-2,3,5-tri-O-benzoyl-a-D-ribofuranose (56) proceeded as well with 6, 12, 15, 45, and 46 to yield to N(8)-beta-D-ribofuranosides 57-61. Sugar deprotection led to the free N(8)-2'-deoxy-beta-D-ribofuranosides 37-42 and N(8)-beta-D-ribofurano-sides 62-65, respectively. Glycosylations via the silyl-method under Vorbruggen conditions led with 6, 12 and 15 to the same results, however, 4-amino-6-phenyl-7(8H)pteridone (14) reacted differently forming the N(1)-beta-D-ribofuranosides (71, 79) and the N(1)-2'-deoxy-alpha-and ss-D-ribofuranosides 73, 74, 77, 78. The assignments of the structures have been achieved by (1)H-NMR- and UV-spectra. C,H,N-elemental analyses account for the composition.

Multiphoton excitation of fluorescent DNA base analogs

Multiphoton excitation was used to investigate properties of the fluorescent DNA base analogs, 2-aminopurine (2AP) and 6-methylisoxanthopterin (6MI). 2-aminopurine, a fluorescent analog of adenine, was excited by three-photon absorption. Fluorescence correlation measurements were attempted to evaluate the feasibility of using three-photon excitation of 2AP for DNA-protein interaction studies. However, high excitation power and long integration times needed to acquire high signal-to-noise fluorescence correlation curves render three-photon excitation FCS of 2AP not very useful for studying DNA base dynamics. The fluorescence properties of 6-methylisoxanthopterin, a guanine analog, were investigated using two-photon excitation. The two-photon absorption cross-section of 6MI was estimated to be about 2.5 x 10(-50) cm(4)s (2.5 GM units) at 700 nm. The two-photon excitation spectrum was measured in the spectral region from 700 to 780 nm; in this region the shape of the two-photon excitation spectrum is very similar to the shape of single-photon excitation spectrum in the near-UV spectral region. Two-photon excitation of 6MI is suitable for fluorescence correlation measurements. Such measurements can be used to study DNA base dynamics and DNA-protein interactions over a broad range of time scales.

Nucleosides. LXV. Synthesis of new pteridine-N8-nucleosides

A general synthetic approach to various isoxanthopterin-nucleosides starting from 6-methyl-2-methylthio-4(3H),7(8H)-pterdinedione (1) has been developed. Ribosylation with 1-O-acetyl-2,3,5-tri-O-benzoyl-beta-D-ribofuranose via the silyl-method led to 2 and reaction with 1-chloro-2-deoxy-3,5-di-O-p-toluoyl-alpha-D-ribofuranose using the DBU-method afforded 28. Protection of the amide function at O4 by benzylation to 5 and by a Mitsunobu reaction with 2-(4-nitrophenyl)ethanol to 29 gave soluble intermediates which can be oxidized to the corresponding 2-methylsulfonyl derivatives 8 and 30, respectively. Nucleophilic displacement reactions of the highly reactive 2-methylsulfonyl functions by various amines proceeded under mild conditions to isoxanthopterin-N8-ribo- (11-17) and 2'-deoxyribomucleosides (31-33). Debenzylation can be achieve by Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation (9 to 19) and cleavage of the npe-protecting group (31, 32 to 34, 35) works well with DBU by beta-elimination.