S. B. Singh et al. / Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 23 (2013) 3018–3022
3019
ilicicolin H. The trimethyl derivative 5 was prepared in about 10%
yield by refluxing ilicicolin H and dimethyl sulfate in acetone in the
presence of potassium carbonate. Likewise the reaction of 1 with
triethyl tetrafluoroborate produced a 1:1 mixture of two mono
ethyl derivatives 6 and 7. Alkylation of 1 with corresponding alkyl
iodide and potassium carbonate in THF afforded 8–13. Reaction of
ilicicolin H with 2-bromo-t-butyl acetate in THF and potassium
carbonate yielded the mono (30%) and di t-butyl (23%) acetate
The mono methyl derivatives 2 and 3 retained C. albicans cyto-
chrome bc1 reductase activity of ilicicolin H (1), but lost C. albicans
whole cell activity and rat liver enzyme selectivity by approxi-
mately 10-fold (Table 1). The N-ethyl derivative (6) showed anti-
fungal activity similar to the N-methyl analog (2). N-Propenyl
derivative (8) was 50-fold less active than 1 in the antifungal assay
but only ꢀ4-fold less active in the enzyme assay. Slightly polar
N-alkyl substitutions (e.g., CH2CONH2, 9 and CH2CN, 11) retained
antifungal activity with either retention of the fungal enzyme
activity (11) or with ꢀ20-fold diminution of fungal enzyme activity
(9). While small alkyl ester groups (e.g., methyl, 3) retained both
cellular and enzyme activities larger groups such as ethyl (7) led
to significant loss of activities. Modestly polar ester group substitu-
tions for example, cyano methyl (12) allowed for retention of the
activities. Dialkylation of N- and phenolic groups (10, 13, 15, 17)
or substitution of either of the groups with larger groups (14) or
polar groups (16 and 18) led to the complete loss of activities.
The acyl derivatives (20–30, 33–36) were prepared by reaction of
ilicicolin H and 2–3 equiv of the corresponding carboxylic acids in
the presence of DMAP and EDC at room temperature for 2–48 h.
FMOC deprotection of 28 with piperidine produced glycine ester
which was unstable and produced ilicicolin H. N-t-Boc deprotection
of 29 and 30 with TFA afforded the 4-aminobutanoate (31) and 5-
aminopentanoate (32). 40-p-Bromo-phenyl carbamate ilicicolin H
(37) was exclusively prepared in ꢀ50% yield by reaction of ilicicolin
H with p-bromophenyl-isocyanate.
derivatives
14
and
15.
Treatment
of
these
t-butyl esters with TFA in methylene chloride afforded the free
acids 16 and 17. Reaction of ilicicolin H with ꢀ1 equiv of diethyl
amino ethyl bromide gave N-triethyl amino derivative 18 almost
exclusively in <10% yield. All compounds were purified by re-
versed-phase HPLC and characterized by MS and NMR, and 2D
NMR when necessary.
R2O
HO
OR3
OH
N
O
O
O
H
H
H
H
N
OMe
R1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
19
: R1 = CH3, R2 = H, R3 = H
: R1 = H, R2 = CH3, R3 = H
: R1 = CH3, R2 = CH3, R3 = H
: R1 = CH3, R2 = CH3, R3 = CH3
: R1 = CH2CH3, R2 = H, R3 = H
: R1 = H, R2 = CH2CH3, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CH=CH2, R2 = H, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CONH2, R2 = H, R3 = H
R
O
OH
O
O
H
O
10
: R1 = CH2CONH2, R2 = CH2CONH2, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CN, R2 = H, R3 = H
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
N
H
: R1 = H, R2 = CH2CN, R3 = H
H
: R1 = CH2CN, R2 = CH2CN, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CO2-t-Bu, R2 = H, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CO2-t-Bu, R2 = CH2CO2-t-Bu, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CO2H, R2 = H, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CO2H, R2 = CH2CO2H, R3 = H
: R1 = CH2CH2N(CH2CH3)2, R2 = H, R3 = H
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
: R = CH2CH3
: R = N-t-Boc-aminopropyl
30: R = N-t-Boc-aminobutyl
31
: R = Cyclopropyl
: R = Cyclobutyl
: R = Cyclopentyl
: R = Cyclohexyl
: R = Phenyl
: R = Aminopropyl
32: R = Aminobutyl
33
: R = 3-Furanyl
34: R = 3-Thiophenyl
35
: R = 3-(Thiophenyl)-E-ethenyl
: R = Benzyl
: R = E-cinnamyl
: R = Fmoc-aminomethyl
36: R = 3-(Imidazolyl)-E-ethenyl
37: R = NH-p-Bromo-phenyl
Table 1
Esters with small alkyl groups (20–22) continue to retain anti-
fungal and enzyme activities and maintained the selectivity
against rat reductase enzyme (Table 2). As the size of the ester
group increased (e.g., 23–25, 34) the antifungal activity diminished
significantly with the exception of furanyl ester (33) which re-
tained antifungal activity of ilicicolin H with only a 4- to 5-fold loss
of enzyme activity. When the branching of the acyl group was sep-
arated away from the keto group by at least one atom (26–30) thus
reducing the steric crowding, both the antifungal and the enzyme
activity reversed to the level of the propyl ester (20). Thiophenyl
esters (34, 35) regardless of the branching point showed signifi-
cantly reduced activities. The esters with free terminal amine such
as aminobutanoate (31) and aminopentanoate (32) or imidazolyl
ethenyl (36) retained potent antifungal and Candida enzyme activ-
ity though with significant loss of enzyme specificity. p-Bromophe-
nyl carbamate (37) showed much lower activities.
The 19-hydroxy ilicicolin H (38) and its acetate (39) was pre-
pared by biotransformation as described earlier.12 The acyl deriva-
tives 40–46 were prepared by coupling of 39 and 2–3 equiv of
corresponding carboxylic acids, EDC and DMAP providing a mix-
ture of mono and diesters which were purified by reversed phase
HPLC. The reaction was often pushed to form the diacyl deriva-
tives; then phenolic acyl group was hydrolyzed at pH 9 by reaction
with 0.01% LiOH in MeOH at room temperature to give 19-hydroxy
derivatives.
C. albicans antifungal and NADH:cytochrome c1 oxidoreductase activity and selec-
tivity against rat liver NADH:cytochrome c1 oxidoreductase of N- and O-alkyl analogs
of ilicicolin H
Compd #
MY1055a
(MIC, ng/mL)
MY1055b
(IC50, ng/mL)
Ratc
(IC50, ng/mL)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
20–40
250–625
250
>1000
>1000
312
>5000
1000
31
>1000
62
2–3
1.6
3
8–80
1000
NT
1000
8
2000–5000
250
200
NT
NT
NT
1000
1000
NT
>1000
800
9
40
200
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
125
6
1000
NT
1000
>5000
>5000
>5000
>5000
>1000
>1000
100
>1600
>1600
>1000
>1000
20
1600
1600
1000
1000
>1000
>1000
20
NT = not tested.
a
C. albicans MY1055 in glycerol media.
C. albicans MY1055 NADH:cytochrome bc1 reductase.
Rat liver NADH:cytochrome c1 reductase.
b
c