Design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation of novel water-soluble prodrugs of buparvaquone.

Novel water-soluble phosphate prodrugs (2b-5b) of buparvaquone-oxime (1a) and buparvaquone-O-methyloxime (1b) were synthesized and evaluated in vitro as potential oral prodrugs against leishmaniasis. Buparvaquone-oxime (1a), and most probably also buparvaquone-O-methyloxime (1b), released the parent buparvaquone via a cytochrome P450-catalysed reaction. The prodrugs 2b-5b showed significantly higher aqueous solubilities (>4 mg/ml) than buparvaquone (< or = 0.03 microg/ml) over a pH range of 3.0-7.4. The prodrugs 2b, 3b and 5b rapidly released (t1/2 = 7 min) the corresponding oximes of buparvaquone (1a and 1b), and prodrug 4b at a moderate rate (t1/2 = 22.5 min) in alkaline phosphatase solution in vitro. Prodrug 3b was the most chemically stable in the aqueous solutions over a pH range of 3.0-7.4 (t1/2 > 8 days). Although buparvaquone-oxime (1a) has been shown to undergo a cytochrome P450-catalysed oxidation in liver microsomes to the parent buparvaquone and behave as a novel bioreversible prodrug, its usefulness is limited in oral drug delivery due to its poor aqueous solubility, like buparvaquone itself. Further phosphorylation of an oxime form of buparvaquone significantly increased water solubility, and this novel approach is therefore useful to improve physicochemical properties of drugs containing a ketone functional group.