CF-1743

A series of tritylated and dimethoxytritylated analogues of selected pyrimidine and purine nucleosides were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro inhibitory activity against two important members of the genus Flavivirus in the Flaviviridae family, the yellow fever (YFV) and dengue viruses (DENV). Among all compounds tested, the 5′‐O‐tritylated and the 5′‐O‐dimethoxytritylated 5‐fluorouridine derivatives exerted potency against YFV. Interestingly in the series of purine analogues, the 5′O, N‐bis‐tritylated fludarabine derivative revealed strong inhibitory activity against DENV at μm concentrations, however significantly weaker potency against YFV.

We herein report the application of the phosphorodiamidate phosphate prodrug approach to a series of thirteen nucleoside analogs with antiviral or anticancer activity. Twenty-five symmetrical phosphorodiamidates were synthesized, bearing esterified l-Alanine (and in one case d-Alanine) in the prodrug moiety, each as single stereoisomer. The presence of an achiral phosphorus represents a potential advantage over the phosphoramidate ProTide approach, where diastereoisomeric mixtures are routinely obtained, and different biological profiles may be expected from the diastereoisomers. Optimization of the synthetic pathway allowed us to identify two general methods depending on the particular nucleoside analogs. All the compounds were biologically evaluated in antiviral and anticancer assays and several showed improvement of activity compared to their parent nucleosides, as in the case of ddA, d4T, abacavir and acyclovir against HIV-1 and/or HIV-2. The biological results were supported by metabolism studies with carboxypeptidase Y monitored by (31)P NMR to investigate their bioactivation. This work further validates the phosphorodiamidate approach as a monophosphate prodrug motif with broad application in the antiviral and anticancer fields.