Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of classical and nonclassical 2-amino-4-oxo-5-substituted-6-methylpyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidines as dual thymidylate synthase and dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors

We designed and synthesized a classical antifolate N-{4-[(2-amino-6-methyl-4-oxo-3,4-dihydro-5H-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-5-yl)methyl]benzoyl}-L-glutamic acid 4 and 11 nonclassical analogues 5-15 as potential dual thymidylate synthase (TS) and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) inhibitors. The key intermediate in the synthesis was N-(4-chloro-6-methyl-5H-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-2-yl)-2,2-dimethylpropanamide, 29, to which various 5-benzyl substituents were attached. For the classical analogue 4, the ester obtained from the N-benzylation reaction was deprotected and coupled with diethyl L-glutamate followed by saponification. Compound 4 was a potent dual inhibitor of human TS (IC50 = 46 nM, about 206-fold more potent than pemetrexed) and DHFR (IC50 = 120 nM, about 55-fold more potent than pemetrexed). The nonclassical analogues were marginal inhibitors of human TS, but four analogues showed potent T gondii DHFR inhibition along with > 100-fold selectivity compared to human DHFR.