Design and synthesis of truncated 4'-thioadenosine derivatives as potent and selective A3 adenosine receptor antagonists.

We have established structure-activity relationships of novel truncated D-4'-thioadenosine derivatives from D-mannose as potent and selective A(3) adenosine receptor (AR) antagonists. At the human A(3) AR, most of N(6)-substituted analogues showed high potency and selectivity and acted as pure antagonists in a cyclic AMP functional assay. Among compounds tested, 2-chloro-N(6)-3-chlorobenzyl and N(6)-3-chlorobenzyl analogues displayed very high binding affinities (K(i) = 1.66 nM and 1.5 nM, respectively) at the human A(3) AR. Truncated 4'-thioadenosine derivatives studied here are regarded as an excellent template for the design of novel A(3) AR antagonists to act at both human and murine species.