Acyloxymethyl as a drug protecting group. Part 3. Tertiary O-amidomethyl esters of penicillin G: Chemical hydrolysis and anti-bacterial activity

Article abstract of DOI:10.1023/A:1016077200460

Purpose. O-(N-alkylamido)methyl esters of penicillin G were studied as a new class of prodrugs. Methods. Their hydrolysis in aqueous buffers containing 20% (v/v) of acetonitrile was investigated by HPLC. Results. A U-shaped pH-rate profile was seen with a pH-independent process extending from pH ca. 2 to pH ca. 10. This pathway is characterised by kinetic data that are consistent with a unimolecular mechanism involving rate-limiting iminium ion formation and penicillinoate expulsion. Penicillin G and the corresponding amide are the ultimate products detected and isolated, indicating that p-lactam ring opening is much slower than ester hydrolysis. The O-(N-alkylamido)methyl esters of penicillin G displayed similar in vitro antibacterial activity to penicillin G itself. Conclusions. Compared to the penicillin G derivatives, the much higher stability of the O-(N-methylbenzamido)methyl benzoate, acetate and valproate esters (which gave rise to a Bronsted β(1g) value of ca. -1) suggests that tertiary N-acyloxymethylamides may be useful prodrugs for carboxylic acid drugs with pK(a) > 4.