Highly enantioselective synthesis and potential biological activity of chiral novel nucleoside analogues containing adenine and naturally phenol derivatives

This paper described an efficient synthetic strategy for chiral acyclic nucleoside analogues containing both the phenoxy components of some bioactive natural compounds and a heterocyclic base. The phenoxy components with adenine moiety were incorporated into the chiral acyclic nucleoside analogues through two key synthetic tactics. Chiron 5-(R)-menthyloxy-2(5H)-furanone was obtained in good yield from the cheap starting material furfural via a valuable synthetic route. The asymmetric Michael addition of with adenine and the subsequent reduction reaction afforded the key chiral intermediate, 2-(R)-(9′-adeninyl)-1,4-butanediol . The absolute configuration of was established by X-ray crystallography. The intermolecular dehydration reaction between 2-(9′-adeninyl)-1,4-butanediol and phenoxy components on treatment with diethyl azodicarboxylate and triphenylphosphine was carried out to give the chiral acyclic nucleoside analogues . The regioselectivity of the reaction was established by NMR methods, especially through 13C NMR shifts and NOE effect observed in the target molecule , as well as by HMBC/HMQC experiments. The target compounds were tested for inhibition of cytopathogenicity against different cancer cells and exhibited potential anticancer activity.