THIO ANALOGS OF PYRIMIDINE BASES
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and p-)bromo- benzyl-2-thiouracils (7–9) (Figure 1) were made by oxidation and subse-
quent benzylation of 2-thiouracil. Treatment of 2-thiouracil with o-(m- and p-)bromobenzyl
bromides and K2CO3 in boiling DMF gave 1–9.
The reaction of 2-thiouracil with two-fold molar excess of o-(m- and p-)bromobenzyl
bromide in boiling DMF in the presence of 1.50 equivalent of K2CO3 lead to 1 and 6, 2
and 5, and 3 and 4, respectively. The preparation of 1–6 was probably promoted by prior
conversions of 2-thiouracil into their respective disulfides with a bromide oxidizing agent.
It is well known in the literature that such oxidative S S coupling occurs in the presence of
halogens.13 The oxidation of thiols to disulfides by means of bromine/aqueous potassium
hydrogen carbonate in two-phase system has also been described.14,15 The competition in the
further reaction with benzylic cation is between N1- and O-. The reactions of benzylations
are largely governed by the same nature of the benzylation agents, i.e., soft electrophiles
(in some respect soft acids) o- (m- and p-)bromobenzyl bromides. The differences in the
reactivity of these bromobenzyl bromides gave N1(B), O(B) (or N1(A), O(A)) together with
N1(A), N1(B) (O(A), O(B) or N1(B), O(A)) benzyl disubstitution of the uracil ring. The pairs of
isomers 1 and 6 (2 and 5 or 3 and 4) were obtained by these dibenzylations.
The reactions of 2-thiouracil with threefold molar excess of o-(m- and p-)bromobenzyl
bromide in boiling DMF in the presence of 1.50 equivalent of K2CO3 led to disulfides of
N1(A),N1(B),O(B)-tri-o-(m- and p-)bromobenzyl-2-thiouracils (7–9).
The structures of disulfides 1–9 were confirmed by examination of their UV/Vis,
FT-IR, and 1H NMR spectra (Table I), as well as elemental analyses (Table II).
The 1H NMR data of 1–9 are given in Table I. Assignments of the 1H NMR resonances
of these compounds were deduced on the basis of their signal multiplicities and by the
1
1
corrected application of two-dimensional NMR technique H-1H COSY. The H NMR
spectra of 1–3 and 6 reveal singlets of 2H of N-CH2 at 5.46 ppm, as well as a singlet of 2H
of O CH2 at 4.48 ppm. The 1H NMR spectrum of 4 reveals a singlet of 4H of N CH2 at
5.39 ppm, and the 1H NMR spectrum of 5 reveals a singlet of O CH2 at 4.39 ppm.
In the 1H NMR spectra of 7–9 singlets of 2H of N CH2 (in the ring A) are situated
at 4.91, 5.21, and 5.17 ppm, respectively, and singlets of 2H of N CH2 (in the ring B) at
5.41, 5.42, and 5.40 ppm, respectively. The 1H NMR spectra of 7–9 reveal singlets of 2H
of O CH2 (in the ring B) at 4.48, 4.45, and 4.42, respectively. Singlets of C2 H of ring B
in the 1H NMR spectra of 1–3 and 7–9 are seen at the range 2.50–2.52 ppm (Table I).
The FT-IR spectra of 1–4 and 6–9 show ν C4 O absorption bands in the region
1671–1716 cm−1 (Table I). The absorption bands of ν N CH2 vibrations of 1–4 and 6–9
are seen in IR spectra in the region 2780–2929 cm−1. The absorption bands of ν O CH2
vibration of 1–3 and 5–9 are seen in the IR spectra in the region 1250–1277 cm−1. The
UV/Vis spectra of 1–6 show λmax in the range 282–296 nm. The UV/Vis spectra of 7–9
show λmax in the range 271 and 295–297 nm, respectively (Table I).
In this article, the biological activity spectra were predicted for all nine synthesized
compounds (1–9) with PASS. We have also selected the types of activity that were predicted
for a potential compound with the highest probability (focal activities). They are presented
in Table III. According to these data, the most frequently predicted types of biological ac-
tivity are prolylaminopeptidase inhibitor, aryloalkylacylamidase inhibitor, mannotetraose-
2-alpha-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase inhibitor, and N-acetyllactosamine synthase in-
hibitor. In ought to be pointed out that in the series of disulfides with o-bromobenzyl
substituent (1, 6, 7), such activities as antiviral (poxvirus) and interleukin antagonist have
been predicted.