Purines ring synthesis

Recurring steps in purine ring synthesis Section 25,2.3... 

A new purine ring synthesis has been developed.Treatment of the 6-aminopyrimidine (40) with 4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione in dioxan at room temperature provided the adduct (41) in excellent yield. Fusion of (41) with benzaldehyde at 180 C gave 8-phenyltheophylline (42). A number of 8-aryl analogues were prepared by this method. 

The synthesis of the purine ring is more complex. The only major component is glycine, which donates C-4 and C-5, as well as N-7. All of the other atoms in the ring are incorporated individually. C-6 comes from HCOa . Amide groups from glutamine provide the atoms N-3 and N-9. The amino group donor for the inclusion of N-1 is aspartate, which is converted into fumarate in the process, in the same way as in the urea cycle (see p. 182). Finally, the carbon atoms C-2 and C-8 are derived from formyl groups in N °-formyl-tetrahydrofolate (see p. 108). 

Figure 10-1. Overview of purine synthesis. Details of the first two reactions and sources of the atoms of the purine ring in inosine 5 -monophosphate (IMP) are shown. PRPP, 5 -phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate Gin, glutamine Gly, glycine Asp, aspartate THF, tetrahydrofolate.

In Fig. 1 various targets of some important cytostatic agents are depicted. Their main mechanisms of action can be briefly summarized as follows. Pentostatin blocks purine nucleotides by inhibiting adenosine deaminase. 6-Mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine inhibit purine ring biosynthesis and they inhibit nucleotide interconversions. Methotrexate by inhibiting dihydrofolate reduction blocks thymidine monophosphate and purine synthesis. 5-Fluorouracil also blocks thymidine monophosphate synthesis. Dactinomycin, daunorubicin, doxorubicin and mitoxantrone intercalate with DNA and inhibit RNA synthesis. L-asparaginase deaminates... 

The common pyrimidine ribonucleotides are cytidine 5 -monophosphate (CMP cytidylate) and uridine 5 -monophosphate (UMP uridylate), which contain the pyrimidines cytosine and uracil. De novo pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis (Fig. 22-36) proceeds in a somewhat different manner from purine nucleotide synthesis the six-membered pyrimidine ring is made first and then attached to ribose 5-phosphate. Required in this process is carbamoyl phosphate, also an intermediate in the urea cycle (see Fig. 18-10). However, as we noted... 

Similar orf/io-substituted heterocycles react similarly, providing entry into a large number of ring-fused systems, including purines (Traube synthesis). 

The atoms of the purine ring are contributed by a number of compounds, including amino acids (aspartic acid, glycine, and glutamine), CO2, and N10-formyltetrahydrofolate (Figure 22.5). The purine ring is constructed by a series of reactions that add the donated carbons and nitrogens to a preformed ribose 5-phosphate. (See p. 145 for a discussion of ribose 5-phosphate synthesis by the HMP pathway.)... 

Biosynthesis of UMP. The parts of the intermediates derived from aspartate are shown in red. Bold type indicates atoms derived from carbamoyl phosphate. In contrast to purine nucleotide synthesis, where ring formation starts on the sugar, in pyrimidine biosynthesis the pyrimidine ring is completed before being attached to the ribose. 

Chemotherapeutic agents, useful in me treatment of neoplastic diseases, exert their therapeutic effects by modifying me synthesis or functions of nucleic acids (see Chapter 51 and Chapter 58). For example, 6-mercaptopurine inhibits purine-ring biosynthesis, cytarabine inhibits DNA polymerase, alkylating agents crosslink DNA, and hydroxyurea inhibits the conversion of ribonucleotides into deoxyribonucleotides. However, other pharmacologic agents such as chlorpromazine, a... 

Aminopterin and amethopterin are 4-amino analogues of folic acid (Fig. 11.5) and as such are potent inhibitors of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (EC 1.5.1.3) (Blakley, 1969). This enzyme catalyses the reduction of folic acid and dihydrofolic acid to tetrahy-drofolic acid which is the level of reduction of the active coenzyme involved in many different aspects of single carbon transfer. As is clear from Fig. 11.6, tetrahydrofolate is involved in the metabolism of (a) the amino acids glycine and methionine (b) the carbon atoms at positions 2 and 8 of the purine ring (c) the methyl group of thymidine and (d) indirectly in the synthesis of choline and histidine. 

With very few exceptions, by far the most important synthetic routes to the purine ring system remain the Traube synthesis from pyrimidines and the synthesis achieved by cyclization of an appropriate aminoimidazole. One of the more active areas of synthesis since the mid-1980s has been the acyclonucleosides, i.e. purines, especially guanine, with a 9-substituent which possesses some of... 

The synthesis of the purine ring is considerably more complex than pyrimidine synthesis. Starting with P-Rib-PP, inosine monophosphate (IMP) is formed in 10 steps (Fig. 15-16). The overall reaction is... 

Several processes described above use one-carbon derivatives of tetrahydrofolate (Fig. 15-19). For example, the synthesis of the purine ring (Fig. 15-16) requires N,0-formyl tetrahydrofolate. Thymidylate synthase, a key enzyme in pyrimidine synthesis, uses N5-N,0-methylene tetrahydrofolate both as a substrate and as a reducing agent. This compound, perhaps the most important in C, metabolism, is... 

Almost all recorded purine syntheses from imidazoles involve the cyclization of 5(4)-aminoimidazole-4(5)-carboxylic acid derivatives especially the carboxamides, thiocar-boxamides, carboxamidines, carboxamidoximes, nitriles and esters. The intermediates used for completion of the purine ring are much the same as have been used for Traube cyclization of diaminopyrimidines (Section 4.09.7.3), especially formic and carbonic acid derivatives, and cyclization generally occurs-under much milder conditions. This feature has been of special value in the synthesis of purine nucleosides from imidazole nucleoside precursors. The resultant purine will have variable substituents at C-2 and C-6 and it is convenient to discuss and classify the various preparations largely in terms of the introduced 2-substituents. The C-6 substituents largely reflect the type of carboxylic acid moiety used and do not vary very much between amino, oxo and thioxo. 

The purine ring system represents a fusion of the two aromatic heterocycles pyrimidine and imidazole. As a logical consequence, appropriately substituted pyrimidines or imidazoles have been used as precursors followed by a cyclization reaction. The purine heterocycle can also be formed from simple acyclic precursors. The most widely used method to synthesize purine is the addition of an imidazole ring to a functionalized pyrimidine moiety (Traube synthesis). The alternative route for the formation of the purine system by the annulation of the pyrimidine ring to a substituted imidazole relates back to a method of Sarasin and Wegmann, and these synthetic protocols principally follow the biosynthetic pathway of purine synthesis. 

The reagents used for the completion of the purine heterocycle are essentially the same as those used for the Traubc synthesis. The purine ring is formed by condensation with derivatives of formic acid or other carboxylic acids. Alternatively, formylation of the amino group is accomplished by a mixture of formic acid and acetic anhydride followed by cyclization. Alkyl esters or trialkyl ortho esters are also versatile synthons for ring closure. Moreover, heating in formamide or cyclization with urea or thiourea provides a satisfactory route. Condensations with isothiocyanates show unusual versatility leading to 2-sulfanylpurin-6-ols. From carbonic acid derivatives, cyclization is reported with chlorocarbonic esters, diethyl carbonate or carbon disulfide. 

Substituted 4(5)-aminoimidazole-5(4)-carbonitriles are versatile starting materials for the synthesis of purine ring systems. The combination of an electrophilie cyano group proximate to a nucleophilic amino function results in a one-step addition-cyclization reaction of electrophiles to give purine analogs. Triethyl orthoformate is widely used for the preparation of adenine and adenine derivatives without a substituent at C2. 

Figure 25.6. de Novo Pathway for Purine Nucleotide Synthesis. The origins of the atoms in the purine ring are indicated. 

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