Use of Nucleoside Phosphorylases for the Preparation of Purine and Pyrimidine 2′‐Deoxynucleosides

Abstract

AbstractEnzymatic transglycosylation – the transfer of the carbohydrate moiety from one heterocyclic base to another – is being actively developed and applied for the synthesis of practically important nucleosides. This reaction is catalyzed by nucleoside phosphorylases (NPs), which are responsible for reversible phosphorolysis of nucleosides to yield the corresponding heterocyclic bases and monosaccharide 1‐phosphates. We found that 7‐methyl‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (7‐Me‐dGuo) is an efficient and novel donor of the 2‐deoxyribose moiety in the enzymatic transglycosylation for the synthesis of purine and pyrimidine 2′‐deoxyribonucleosides in excellent yields. Unlike 7‐methylguanosine, its 2′‐deoxy derivative is dramatically less stable. Fortunately, we have found that 7‐methyl‐2′‐deoxyguanosine hydroiodide may be stored for 24 h in Tris‐HCl buffer (pH 7.5) at room temperature without significant decomposition. In order to optimize the reagent ratio, a series of analytical transglycosylation reactions were conducted at ambient temperature. According to HPLC analysis of the transglycosylation reactions, the product 5‐ethyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (5‐Et‐dUrd) was obtained in high yield (84–93%) by using a small excess (1.5 and 2.0 equiv.) of 7‐Me‐dGuo over 5‐ethyluracil (5‐Et‐Ura) and 0.5 equiv. of inorganic phosphate. Thymidine is a less effective precursor of α‐d‐2‐deoxyribofuranose 1‐phosphate (dRib‐1p) compared to 7‐Me‐dGuo. We synthesized 2′‐deoxyuridine, 5‐Et‐dUrd, 2′‐deoxyadenosine and 2′‐deoxyinosine on a semi‐preparative scale using the optimized reagent ratio (1.5:1:0.5) in high yields. Unlike other transglycosylation reactions, the synthesis of 2‐chloro‐2′‐deoxyadenosine was performed in a heterogeneous medium because of the poor solubility of the initial 2‐chloro‐6‐aminopurine. Nevertheless, this nucleoside was prepared in good yield. The developed enzymatic procedure for the preparation of 2′‐deoxynucleosides may compete with the known chemical approaches.magnified image