Brief Articles
J ournal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2002, Vol. 45, No. 6 1381
130.0, 134.5, 141.3, 143.3, 143.9, 144.0, 148.1, 151.1, 152.7,
fulfilling the codrug criteria. The yield could be im-
proved if a more easily cleaved protecting group were
introduced to L-Dopa or if such a group was replaced
by biolabile groups, making the deprotection step re-
dundant.
162.9, 171.4. ESI-MS: 543.1 (M+1). Anal. (C25H26N4O10
0.25CH2Cl2) C, H, N.
‚
HP LC An a lysis. The HPLC system used for the determi-
nation of in vitro samples consisted of a Beckman System Gold
Programmable Solvent Module 126, Beckman System Gold
Detector Module 166 with variable wavelength UV detector
(set at 254 nm), and a Beckman System Gold Autosampler
507e. Separations were accomplished on a Purospher RP-18
reverse-phase column (12.5 cm × 4.0 mm i.d., 5 µm) (Merck,
Darmstadt, Germany). The chromatographic conditions were
as follows: injection volume, 50 µL; column temperature, 40
°C; flow rate, gradient/isocratic at 1.0 mL/min. The mobile
phase consisted of various proportions of methanol/water
mixture (90:10) and a citrate/phosphate buffer pH 2.2.
Exp er im en ta l Section
Rea gen ts. All solvents and reagents were of the highest
purity and used without further purification. Diphosgene was
purchased from Fluka Chemie AS. Care must be excercised in
the handling of diphosgene due to release of phosgene when
heated or activated on charcoal.
1
Ch em istr y. H and 13C NMR analyses were recorded on a
Bruker Avance 500, operating at 500.1 and 125.6 MHz,
respectively. Chemical shifts are reported in parts per million
(δ) using TMS as the internal standard. The splitting pattern
abbreviations are as follows: s ) singlet, d ) doublet, t )
triplet, q ) quartet, br ) broad. Electrospray ionization mass
spectra were acquired by an LCQ ion trap mass spectrometer
equipped with an electrospray ionization source (Finnigan
MAT, San J ose, CA). The samples were diluted with methanol
to 20 µg/mL and injected directly into the eluent flow via a 5
µL loop injector (the total amount of sample was approximately
100 ng), and full scan mass spectra were recorded. Elemental
analyses were carried out on a ThermoQuest CE Instruments
EA 1110-CHNS-O elemental analyzer. The synthetic reactions
were monitored by TLC (Kieselgel 60 F 254, DC-Alufolien,
Merck). HPLC purification was accomplished by using a
Beckmann System Gold Programmable Solvent Module 116
on reversed phase silica (Kromasil 100 Å spherical silica, C8,
16 µm, Eka Chemicals AB).
Hyd r olysis in Aqu eou s Solu tion . The rate of chemical
hydrolysis of 4 was determined in aqueous phosphate buffer
solution (0.16 M) at pH 7.4, 5.0, and 1.2 at 37 °C. An
appropriate amount of 4 was dissolved in 10 mL of preheated
buffer, and the solution was placed in a thermostatically
controlled water bath at 37 °C. At appropriate time intervals,
samples were taken and analyzed for the remaining codrug
by HPLC. Pseudo-first-order half-time (t1/2) for the hydrolysis
of 4 was calculated from the slope of the linear portion of the
plotted logarithm of remaining codrug vs time.
Hyd r olysis in 10% Ra bbit Liver Hom ogen a te. The
rabbit liver was homogenized with approximately four equiva-
lent volumes of isotonic phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 using an
X-1020 homogenizer (Ystral, Germany). The homogenate was
centrifuged for 90 min at 9000g and 4 °C with a Biofuge 28
RS-centrifuge (Heraeus Instruments, Germany). The super-
natant was stored at -80 °C until analysis. An appropriate
amount of 4 was dissolved in one volume of preheated 20%
liver homogenate. The solution was then incubated at 37 °C.
At appropriate time intervals, samples (300 µL) were with-
drawn. Samples were pretreated with 300 µL of methanol to
terminate enzymatic activity. After mixing and centrifugation,
400 µL of the supernatant was evaporated to dryness under a
stream of air. The residue was redissolved in 400 µL of the
mobile phase buffer and analyzed by HPLC.
2-Am in o-3-(3,4-d ia cetoxy-p h en yl)-p r op ion ic Acid (2).
L-Dopa methyl ester was prepared by treatment of L-Dopa (2
g, 10 mmol) with thionyl chloride (5 mL) in dry methanol (10
mL).21 The resulting white solid was stirred with trifluoroacetic
acid (4 mL) and acetyl chloride (1.5 mL) at room temperature
to give the desired product with quantitative yield and high
purity.22 The procedures are described in detail in the refer-
1
ences. H NMR (CD3OD) δ: 2.32 (6H, s, CH3CO), 3.24 (1H, q,
J ) 7.5 and 14.2 Hz, CHACH), 3.34 (1H, q, J ) 5.8 and 14.2
Hz, CHBCH), 3.86 (3H, s, OCH3), 4.24 (1H, q, J ) 5.8 and 7.5
Hz, CH2CH), 7.14 (1H, d, J ) 1.3 Hz, ArH), 7.20 (1H, d, J )
1.3 Hz, ArH), 7.21 (1H, d, ArH). ESI-MS: 296.3 (M+1).
3-(3,4-Dia cetoxy-p h en yl)-2-isocya n a to-p r op ion ic Acid
(3). The HCl salt of compound 2 (1.5 g, 4.5 mmol) was dissolved
in dry ethyl acetate, and diphosgene (1.1 mL, 9.0 mmol) was
added while stirring at -10 °C under N2 atmosphere. The
mixture was allowed to warm to room temperature, then
refluxed for 5 h and evaporated to dryness under high vacuum.
The product was used immediately in the following reaction
without further purification.
Ack n ow led gm en t. This work was supported by the
Academy of Finland and The National Technology
Agency of Finland. Orion Pharma is gratefully acknowl-
edged for donation of entacapone. The authors are
grateful to Ms. Miia-Liisa Ra¨sa¨nen and Mrs. Helly
Rissanen for their skillful technical assistance. A grant
from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation to J .L. is gratefully
acknowledged.
(S)-2-[5-((E)-2-Cya n o-2-d ieth ylca r ba m oyl-vin yl)-2-h y-
d r oxy-3-n itr o-p h en oxyca r bon yla m in o]-3-(3,4-d ih yd r oxy-
p h en yl)-p r op ion ic Acid Meth yl Ester (4). The isocyanate
3 was dissolved in dry acetonitrile (10 mL) with entacapone
(553 mg, 1.81 mmol) under N2 atmosphere in the absence of
light. The mixture was refluxed for 20 h and evaporated to
dryness. The product was purified by flash chromatography
on silica gel using dichloromethane/methanol (100:1) as an
eluent. Acetate protecting groups were removed by treating
with an acetone/3 N HCl (20:1) solution for 2 h at 50 °C. The
resulting clear yellow mixture was evaporated to dryness and
purified by preparative HPLC using acetonitrile/water (50:50)
as an eluent. Evaporation of solvents yielded a yellow solid
(436 mg, 46%). mp (decomposed). 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ: 1.26 (6H,
br, CH2CH3), 2.95 (1H, q, J ) 6.1 and 13.7 Hz, CHACH), 3.11
(1H, q, J ) 4.7 and 13.7 Hz, CHBCH), 3.50 (4H, br, CH2CH3),
3.77 (3H, s, OCH3), 4.59 (1H, q, J ) 5.9 and 7.0 Hz, CH2CH),
6.14 (1H, d, J ) 7.5 Hz, NH) 6.15 (1H, d, J ) 8.0 Hz, ArH),
6.66 (1H, s, ArH) 6.72 (1H, d, J ) 8.0 Hz, ArH), 7.52 (1H, s,
CH)C), 7.92 (1H, s, J ) 1.8 Hz, ArH), 8.32 (1H, s, J ) 1.8 Hz,
ArH). 13C NMR (125.8 MHz, CD3OD) δ: 12.5, 13.6, 37.0, 41.1,
43.6, 52.7, 55.4, 107.0, 115.5, 116.6, 121.4, 122.9, 124.9, 127.6,
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