Thymine activity

Methotrexate (MTX, chemical structure shown in Fig. 1.) competitively inhibits the dehyrofolate reductase, an enzyme that plays an essential role in purine synthesis. The dehydrofolate reductase regenerates reduced folates when thymidine monophosphate is formed from deoxyuridine monophosphate. Without reduced folates cells are unable to synthesize thymine. Administration of N-5 tetrahydrofolate or N-5 formyl-tetrahydrofolate (folinic acid) can bypass this block and rescue cells from methotrexate activity by serving as antidote. 

N -Fmoc serine benzyl ester 2, which could be prepared as shown or purchased commercially, was smoothly converted to the crystalHne O-methylthiomethyl (MTM) ether 3 in high yield via a Pummerer-Hke reaction using benzoyl peroxide and dimethyl sulfide in acetonitrile [39]. This common intermediate was used to synthesize both 5 and 8 [40]. Both Ogilvie [41] and Tsantrizos [42] had reported that I2 was an effective activator with similar MTM ether substrates. The H promoted nucleosidation reaction between O-MTM ether 3 and bis-silylated thymine 4 produced the nucleoamino acid 5 in 60% isolated yield (100% based on recovered 3). Hydrogenolytic deprotection of the benzyl ester with H2, Pd/C in MeOH gave the thymine-containing nucleoamino acid 6 in quantitative yield. 

Wondrack LM, C-A Hsu, MT Abbott (1978) Thymine-7-hydroxylase and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside 2 -hydroxylase activities m Rhodotorula glutinis. J Biol Chem 253 6511-6515. 

Wetzstein H-G, N Schmeer, W Karl (1997) Degradation of the fluoroquinolone enrofloxacin by the brown-rot fungus Gleophyllum striatum identification of metabolites. Appl Environ Microbiol 63 4272-4281. Wondrack LM, C-A Hsu, MT Abbott (1978) Thymine-7-hydroxylase and pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside 2 -hydroxylase activities in Rhodotorula glutinis. J Biol Chem 253 6511-6515. 

Hoechst 33342 [2 -(4-ethoxyphenyl)-5-(4-methyl-l-piperazinyl)-2,5 -bi-IH-benzimidazole Ho342 I], a bisbenzimidazole dye, binds to adenine/thymine-rich regions in the minor groove of DNA. This dye induces apoptosis and inhibits topo 1 activity in vivo. It has been suggested that the destruction of immunoreactive topo I and topo I-DNA complexes or cleavable complexes results in inhibition of topo I activity, a key step in the Hoechst 33342-induced apoptotic process [40]. 

The identification of the HIV-1-specific non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) as a separate class of HIV inhibitors was heralded by the discovery of the tetrahydroimidazo[4,5,1 -// .][ 1,4]benzo-diazepin-2(l //)-onc and -thione (TIBO) derivatives (Fig. 7) [58,59] and 1 -(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl)-6-(phenylthio)thymine (HEPT) derivatives (Fig. 8) [60,61]. The first TIBO derivatives (R82150, R82913) were the first NNRTIs [58] postulated to act as inhibitors of HIV-1 RT [59], For the HEPT derivatives it became evident that they also interact specifically with HIV-1 RT after a number of derivatives (i.e., E-EPU, E-EBU, and E-EBU-dM) had been synthesized that were more active than HEPT itself [62,63]. Following HEPT and TIBO, several other compounds, i.e., nevirapine, pyridinone, and bis(heteroaryl)piperazine (BHAP), were... 

In order to investigate the single electron donation process from a reduced flavin to a pyrimidine dimer or oxetane lesion, the photolyase model compounds 1-4 depicted in Scheme 4 were prepared [41, 42]. The first model compounds 1 and 2 contain a cyclobutane uracil (1) or thymine (2) dimer covalently connected to a flavin, which is the active electron donating subunit in photolyases. These model systems were dissolved in various solvents... 

Conjugation via Bromine Activation of Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine... 

Platination of the N3 position in 1-substituted uracil and thymine derivatives requires proton abstraction and usually occurs only at high pH, but the Pt-N3 bond, once formed, is thermodynamically stable (log K 9.6) [7]. Platinum binding to N3 increases the basicity of 04, which becomes an additional binding site leading to di- and trinuclear complexes. A list of X-ray structurally characterized species is given by Lippert [7]. Pt complexes of uracil and thymine can form intensely colored adducts (e.g. platinum pyrimidine blues), which show anticar-cinogenic activity analogously to the monomeric species [7]. 

The reaction of silyl ketene acetal addition to nitrones has been used for the synthesis of optically active (2S,3S)-benzoyl- and /V- oc-phenyl isoserine (636a) of isoxazolidine nucleoside-analog of thymine polyoxine C(636b) and of... 

The chemistry, metabolism, and clinical importance of folic acid have been the subject of many excellent reviews (A7, Gil, H14, H20, Rl). Folic acid deficiency leads to a macrocytic anemia and leucopenia. These symptoms are due to inadequate synthesis of nucleic acid. The synthesis of purine bases and of thymine, required for nucleic acid synthesis, is impaired in folic acid deficiency. Detection of folic acid activity in biologic fluids and tissues is of the utmost importance it distinguishes between the various anemias, e.g., those due to vitamin Bi2 or folic acid deficiency. Because morphology of the abnormal red cell does not help in diagnosing vitamin deficiency, one must rely on assay methods for differential diagnosis. Treatment of pernicious anemia with folic acid has led to subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord despite... 

Vitamin Bi2 catalyzes incorporation of single carbon units, e.g., the S-linked methyl of methionine and the C-methyl of thymine it also participates in the redox reactions leading to deoxyribose (S10). The many techniques for measuring vitamin Bi2 activity fall into 2 classes (a) microbiological, and (b) radioactive. 

Table 21.1 contains computed activation data for the keto = enol tauto-merization of thymine [10], Equation 21.11, both, in the presence and absence of... 

Polyamides containing thymine photodimer units in the main chain (17a,b) were prepared by polycondensation of thymine photodimer derivatives (15a,b), which were obtained by the photochemical reaction of the monomeric compound, and various diamines by the activated ester method (Figures 4 and 5) (17, 19). 

PES has been applied to study biologically active molecules with amino groups and their constituents like nucleic bases and related compounds (e.g. adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, hypoxanthine and their methyl derivatives)113-120 and amino acids92,121,122 or their methyl esters123. 

The contents of the nucleic acid bases in the poly-L-lysine derivatives were determined by UV spectra of the polymers after hydrolysis The polymers were hydrolyzed in 6 N-hydrochloric acid at 105°C for 24 hr, into lysine dihydrochloride and the carboxyethyl derivatives of the nucleic acid bases. The quantitative calculation was made relative to the standard sample of the carboxyethyl derivative of the nucleic acid bases. The analytical data are listed in Table 1. It was found that the thymine and uracil derivatives was completely substituted to polylysine. Low value in case of adenine base in the polymer may be attributed to the unstability of the activated ester, Ade-PNP (2), and may also be explained in terms of the steric interaction among bulky pendant groups of the polymer. When the poly-L-lysine containing about 50 mol % adenine units was again treated with Ade-PNP, the adenine unit content in the polymer increased up to 74 mol %(,] ). 

In addition to the protein and low-molecular-weight thiols that react with PAN, there are several other reactive biochemicals. Reduced nicotinamide derivatives are susceptible to oxidation by PAN (at 72 ppm for 1-5 min), whereas the oxidized forms are resistant. The capability of PAN to oxidize these compounds rapidly dissipates in aqueous solution, with a half-life of 4-10 min, depending on pH. The oxidation products appear to be the biologically active forms of the nicotinamide derivatives. Purines and pyrimidines react with PAN (at 1,000 ppm for 30-120 min). The order of sensitivity is thymine, guanine, uracil, cytosine, and adenine. Their reactions were studied at relatively low pH and at high PAN concentration and are probably not of biologic significance. 

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