Fluorine containing amino acids and their derivatives. 7. Synthesis and antitumor activity of α- and γ-substituted methotrexate analogs

Abstract

Three types of reactions of α-substituted malonates, difluoromethylation, alkylation with n,n,n-trifluoroalkyl sulfonates, and Michael addition to 2-substituted-acrylates, conveniently afforded a number of fluorine containing α amino acids such as β-fluorinated-alanines, 2-amino-n,n,n-trifluoroalkanoic acids, and fluorinated glutamic acids as well as other γ-heteroatom substituted glutamic acids. Here, an efficient enzymatic optical resolution using hog kidney acylase was conducted to obtain both optical isomers of 2-amino-n,n,n-trifluoroalkanoic acids. In addition, a novel sulfoxide rearrangement was observed in a base-catalyzed reaction of diethyl α-difluoromethyl-α-sulfoxymalonates. Finally, α- and γ-substituted glutamic acids obtained were used for chemical modification of the antitumor agent methotrexate to reveal remarkable structure-activity relationships. In particular, the significant effects of fluorine substitution on the in vivo antitumor activity were observed.