Synthesis and antiviral activity of 5'-deoxypyrazofurin.
Chen X, Schneller SW, Ikeda S, Snoeck R, Andrei G, Balzarini J, De Clercq E.
In searching for derivatives of pyrazofurin that could display antiviral properties by means that do not require C-5' phosphorylation, 5'-deoxypyrazofurin (3) has been synthesized in six steps from methyl5-deoxy-2,3-O-isopropylidene-beta-D-ribofuranoside (4). Compound 3 was evaluated for antiviral activity against a large number of viruses including herpes-, pox-, myxo-, toga-, arena-, rhabdo-, picorna-,reo-, and retroviruses. Compound 3 proved active against respiratory syncytial virus (in HeLa cells), vaccinia virus (in embryonic skin-muscle fibroblast cells), vesicular stomatitis virus (in HeLa cells), and influenza A virus (in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells) at concentrations (ranging from 4 to 20 micrograms/mL) that were nontoxic to the confluent host cell cultures.