Publications

A series of cyclic and acyclic nucleoside analogues derived from 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinone were synthesized using the Vorbrüggen reaction. Iron chelation studies, and antiviral evaluation against a broad panel of viruses, were performed. The pK(a) value of ligand 25 and the stability constant of the corresponding iron(III) complex were compared to those of deferiprone. The pFe(3+) values were found to be similar. Some compounds showed moderate activity against both wild-type HSV-1 and HSV-2, as well as against a thymidine kinase deficient strain of HSV-1. These results suggest a novel mode of action for this group of nucleoside analogues.

The first TSAO derivative that lacks the amino group at the 3'-spiro moiety has been prepared. This molecule retained its HIV-1 specificity (NNRTI characteristic) but did not select for any of the classical NNRTI-specific mutations in the NNRTI binding pocket, including 138-Lys (TSAO resistant strain).

New reactions of methyl 2,2-difluoro glycosides are described that were utilized for synthesis of some novel nucleoside derivatives. Thus, treatment of methyl 2-deoxy-2,2-difluoro-3,4-O-isopropylidene-alpha (beta)-D-erythro-pyranoside (2) with anhydrous HCl resulted in selective displacement of one fluorine atom with chlorine to give a 2-deoxy-2-chloro-2-fluoro glycoside 3. Reaction of 3 with silylated uracil in the presence of SnCl4 provided a 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-2-uracil-substituted glycoside 4. 2-Fluoro-2-deoxy glycosides substituted with other pyrimidines at C-2 were prepared similarly by the reaction of acylated 2,2-difluoro or 2-fluoro-2-bromo derivatives (5 and 6, respectively) with silylated pyrimidines. The resulting 2'-fluorinated isonucleosides were evaluated for their antitumor and antiviral activities. Compounds 7a,b, 8a,b, and 10a,b demonstrated 50% tumor cell growth inhibition in vitro (IC50) at 10(-4)-10(-5) M. At similar concentrations no antiviral activity was observed in vitro. Therapeutic activity was obtained with 7a,b and 8a,b in DBA/2 mice with L1210 leukemia. Administration of 7a,b at 500 mg/kg, ip daily, for 5 consecutive days, resulted in a 55% increase in life span (% ILS) while administration of 8a,b in the same manner at 200 mg/kg caused a 29% ILS. Treatment with 7a,b to mice with drug-resistant L1210 sublines (5-FU and araC) resulted in 22 and 57% increases in life span, respectively. Lewis lung carcinoma and M5076 sarcoma in mice also responded to the administration of 7a,b with reductions in tumor growth for both tumors and significant increases in life span in mice with Lewis lung carcinoma. Although the mechanism of action of 7a,b is not known, it has been found to be a relatively fast-acting, cell-cycle nonspecific cytotoxic agent that decreases [3H]deoxyuridine incorporation, blocks L1210 cells at the G2 phase of the cell cycle, and is not reversed by exogenous thymidine. These 2'-fluorinated isonucleosides have demonstrated biological activity and may have potential as antitumor drugs.

The synthesis of 3-cyclopentyl-1-adamantanamines and adamantanemethanamines and some of their thioureas is described. The antiviral activity examination of these compounds indicated that some of them inhibited Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection at concentrations that were slightly (up to 5-fold) lower than the cytotoxic concentration. Behavioral and convulsions studies of the above mentioned amines, in mice, did not show any dopaminomimetic activity and argue in favor of the existence of a glutamatergic component in the action of these derivatives.

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CPT clocks are very attractive for their miniaturization potentiality. Nevertheless, two main effects limit today their performance: the optical pumping associated with circularly polarized lasers and the line broadening due to saturation effects. We propose to overcome these limitations by the use of orthogonal linear laser polarizations and a pulsed interrogation sequence. The optimization of the time sequence leading to the best characteristics (contrast, linewidth) of the dark resonance is discussed. Very preliminary measurements of the frequency stability demonstrate an interesting performance of 3.5 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-12</sup> tau <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-frac12</sub>

Abstract Six new carbocyclic nucleosides were prepared by constructing a guanine (compounds 6, 8 and 10) or 8-azaguanine (compounds 7, 9 and 11) base on the amino group of (1R, cis)-3-(aminomethyl)-1,2,2-trimethylcyclopentylmethanol (2), and their activities against 13 viruses and 3 tumor cell lines were determined. Compounds 9, 10 and 11 showed activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), and compound 11 also against vaccina virus, whereas compounds 6 and 7 showed some inhibition of tumor cell proliferation.

The efficacy of 2-amino-7-[(1,3-dihydroxy-2-propoxy)methyl]purine (S2242) was evaluated in several animal models for herpesvirus infections. Compound S2242 was more effective than acyclovir (i) when administered subcutaneously in a model for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-induced mortality in immunocompetent mice and (ii) when applied topically to hairless (hr/hr) mice that had been infected intracutaneously with HSV-2. In SCID (severe combined immune deficient) mice that had been infected with a thymidine kinase-deficient HSV-1 strain, S2242 (administered subcutaneously at a dosage of 50 mg/kg/day) completely protected against virus-induced mortality whereas foscarnet was less effective and acyclovir had no or little protective effect. Compound S2242 was far more effective than ganciclovir in preventing or delaying murine cytomegalovirus-induced mortality in immunocompetent and SCID mice. The compound was more effective when a given dose was fractionated and administered on subsequent days than when this dose was administered in one single injection. A 5-day treatment course with S2242 (10 and 50 mg/kg/day) for newborn mice that had been infected with a lethal dose of murine cytomegalovirus suppressed virus-induced mortality. Compound S2242 had no inhibitory effect on the growth of weanling (at 50 mg/kg for 5 days) and 3- to 4-week-old mice (at doses of 50 to 200 mg/kg for 6 weeks). However, akin to ganciclovir, compound S2242 significantly reduced testicle weight, testicle morphology, and spermatogenesis.