4-Quinolones as antibacterial agents

Quinolone (strictly 2(l/f)-quinoIinone) and 4-quinolone and 1-isoquinolone are completely in the carbonyl tautomeric form for all practical purposes - the hydroxyl tautomers lack a favourable polarised resonance contribution, as illustrated below for 1-isoquinolone. There is considerable interest in quinolones as antibacterial agents. ... 

Over 10000 quinolone antibacterial agents have now been synthesized. Nalidixic acid is regarded as the progenitor of the new quinolones. It has been used for several years as a clinically important drug in the treatment of urinary tract infections. Since its clinical introduction, other 4-quinolone antibacterials have been synthesized, some of which show considerably greater antibacterial potency. Furthermore, this means that many types of bacteria not susceptible to nahdixic acid therapy m be sensihve to the newer derivahves. The most important development was the introduction of a fluorine substituent at C-6, which led to a considerable increase in potency and spectrum of activity compared with nalidixic add. These second-generation quinolones are known as fluoroquinolones, examples of which are ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin (Fig. 5.19). 

Many quinoline derivatives are important biologically active agents. 8-Hydroxyquinoline and some of its halogenated derivatives are used as antiseptics. Chloroquine 111 is one of the older but still important antimalarials. A -Alkyl-4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid and systems derived therefrom are constituents of antibacterials (gyrase inhibitors [112]) such as nalidixic acid 112, ciprofloxazin 113 and moxifloxazin 114. The quinoline-8-carboxylic acid derivative 115 (quinmerac) is employed as a herbicide for Galium aparine and other broad-leaved weeds. Methoxatin 116, known as coenzyme PQQ is a heterotricyclic mammalian cofactor for lysyl oxidase and dopamine P-hydroxylase [113]. 

Zhang and co-workers investigated Ru(II)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of protected ethyl l-(2-aminoa-ceto)cyclopropane carboxylates 55 in order to set a stereo-genic center in (5)-7-amino-5-azaspiro[2.4]heptane, a key intermediate in the synthesis of quinolone antibacterial agents such as sitalloxacin and olamulloxacin. ... 

More then a dozen representatives of the above ring systems were introduced into the human therapy. Actisomide (2) and trequinsin (3) are used as antiarrhytmic and antihypertensive agents, respectively. Sunepitron (4), a a 2-adrenoceptor antagonist, is under clinical trials for the treatment of anxiety and depression. Representatives of the third generation of antibacterial quinolone-3-carboxylic acids the blockbluster ofloxacin (5), its levorotatory enantiomer, levofloxacin (6), and rufloxacin (7) have gained wide acceptance for the treatment of bacterial infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts, skin, and soft tissues, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, and pazufloxacin (8) is under development. Praziquantel (9) is widely applied for the treatment of schistosomes- and cestode-caused infection in both veterinary and human therapies (Scheme 4). 

One of the earlier second-generation quinolones indeed includes fluorine at the 6 position and a basic function at the 7 position, characteristic of the more potent drugs that also feature a broader spectmm of antibacterial activity. The starting material (39-3) for one of these agents is prepared by application of the same scheme as above to the substituted aniline (39-1). Nucleophilic aromatic displacement with A-methylpiperazine (39-4) proceeds at the 7 position due to activation by the carbonyl group para to the chlorine (39-5). Saponification of the displacement product leads to pefloxacin (39-6) [46]. 

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