Structure-toxicity relationship of aminoglycosides: correlation of 2'-amine basicity with acute toxicity in pseudo-disaccharide scaffolds.

A new pseudo-disaccharide NB23 with a 3',4'-methylidene protection was designed and its properties were evaluated in comparison to other two structurally related pseudo-disaccharides. The basicity of the 2'-amine was found to be well correlated to acute toxicity data in mice: the increase in the basicity is associated with the toxicity increase. Based on these data, a new pseudo-trisaccharide NB45 was constructed. NB45 exhibited significant antibacterial activity while at the same time retained low acute toxicity.