Synthesis of classical, three-carbon-bridged 5-substituted furo[2,3-d]pyrimidine and 6-substituted pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine analogues as antifolates.

Bridge homologation of the previously reported classical two-carbon-bridged antifolates, a 5-substituted 2,4-diaminofuro[2,3-d]pyrimidine (1) [which is a 6-regioisomer of LY231514 (Alimta)] and a 6-subsituted 2-amino-4-oxopyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine, afforded the three-carbon-bridged antifolates analogues 4 and 5, with enhanced inhibitory activity against tumor cells in culture (EC(50) values in the 10(-8)-10(-7) M range or less). These two analogues were synthesized via a 10-step synthetic sequence starting from methyl 4-bromobenzoate (14), which was elaborated to the alpha-chloromethyl ketone (8) followed by condensation with 2,6-diamino-pyrimidin-4-one (7) to afford the substituted furo[2,3-d]pyrimidine 9 and the pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine 10. Subsequent coupling of each regioisomer with diethyl-l-glutamate followed by saponification afforded 4 and 5. The biological results indicate that elongation of the C8-C9 bridge of the classical 5-substituted 2,4-diaminofuro[2,3-d]pyrimidine and 6-substituted 2-amino-4-oxopyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine are highly conducive to antitumor activity in vitro, despite a lack of increase in inhibitory activity against the target enzymes. This supports our original hypothesis that truncation of the B-ring of a highly potent 6-6 ring system to a 6-5 ring system can be compensated by bridge homologation to restore the overall length of the molecule.