1613293-13-2Relevant academic research and scientific papers
Development and bioorthogonal activation of palladium-labile prodrugs of gemcitabine
Weiss, Jason T.,Dawson, John C.,Fraser, Craig,Rybski, Witold,Torres-Sánchez, Carmen,Bradley, Mark,Patton, E. Elizabeth,Carragher, Neil O.,Unciti-Broceta, Asier
, p. 5395 - 5404 (2014/07/08)
Bioorthogonal chemistry has become one of the main driving forces in current chemical biology, inspiring the search for novel biocompatible chemospecific reactions for the past decade. Alongside the well-established labeling strategies that originated the bioorthogonal paradigm, we have recently proposed the use of heterogeneous palladium chemistry and bioorthogonal Pd 0-labile prodrugs to develop spatially targeted therapies. Herein, we report the generation of biologically inert precursors of cytotoxic gemcitabine by introducing Pd0-cleavable groups in positions that are mechanistically relevant for gemcitabine's pharmacological activity. Cell viability studies in pancreatic cancer cells showed that carbamate functionalization of the 4-amino group of gemcitabine significantly reduced (>23-fold) the prodrugs' cytotoxicity. The N-propargyloxycarbonyl (N-Poc) promoiety displayed the highest sensitivity to heterogeneous palladium catalysis under biocompatible conditions, with a reaction half-life of less than 6 h. Zebrafish studies with allyl, propargyl, and benzyl carbamate-protected rhodamines confirmed N-Poc as the most suitable masking group for implementing in vivo bioorthogonal organometallic chemistry.
