Synthesis and anti- Pneumocystis carinii activity of conformationally restricted analogues of pentamidine

Abstract

Aseries of conformationally restricted analogues of pentamidine in which the flexible central bridge has been replaced by trans-cyclopropyl, phenyl, pyridinyl, piperazinyl or homopiperazinyl groups as conformationally restricted linkers have been synthesized. The anti- Pneumocystis carinii activity of these compounds was evaluated in a cell culture model and the DNA binding affinity was determined by thermal denaturation measurements. At 1 μM, compounds 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and pentamidine were highly effective and caused total inhibition of P. carinii growth in culture. At 0.1 μM, compounds 2, 5, 7 and 10 were more active than pentamidine with N, N′-bis(4-amidinophenyl)piperazine 7 being approximately 15-fold more effective than pentamidine. The most active compounds, 7 and 10, showed strong binding affinities for calf thymus DNA and poly(dA-dT); however, a clear correlation between DNA binding affinity and the in vitro anti- P. carinii activity of these compounds was not observed. The results suggest that the nature of the central linker influences the biological actions of these compounds.