Sulfonylureas and sulfonylcarbamates as new non-tetrazole angiotensin II receptor antagonists. Discovery of a highly potent orally active (imidazolylbiphenylyl)sulfonylurea (HR 720).

The synthesis and pharmacological activity of new potent nonpeptide non-tetrazole angiotensin II (AII) receptor antagonists are described. These compounds are 4-thioimidazole derivatives linked on N1 to a biphenylsulfonyl fragment by a methylene spacer. Different acidic sulfonamides such as sulfonylureas 12, sulfonylcarbamates 15, sulfonylamides 16, and sulfonylsulfonamides 17 have been investigated as replacements to the known potent tetrazole moiety at the 2'-biphenyl position. Their activity were evaluated by AII receptor binding assay as well as by in vivo (i.v. and po) assays such as inhibition of the AII-induced pressor response in pithed rats. Most of the synthesized sulfonyl derivatives showed nanomolar affinity for the AT1 receptor subtype. The N-propylsulfonylurea 12d and the ethyl sulfonylcarbamate 15b as representative members of this series exhibited high oral activity in the pithed rat model with ID50 values of 0.38 and 0.4 mg/kg, respectively. Structure-activity relationships on the imidazole ring linked to the methylbiphenyl N-propylsulfonylurea fragment demonstrated similar features to those found in the corresponding tetrazole series. For both class of compounds, the linear butyl chain in position 2 and a carboxylic acid in position 5 were important for high in vitro and in vivo activity. In most cases, replacement of the carboxylic acid was detrimental to in vivo activity while maintaining the in vitro binding affinity. Introduction of a methylthio group in position 4 was found to enhance oral activity compared to compounds with chloro or other alkylthio, (polyfluoroalkyl)thio, and arylthio groups. 2-Butyl-4-(methylthio)-1-[[2'- [[[(propylamino)carbonyl]amino[sulfonyl](1,1'-biphenyl)-4- yl]methyl]-1-H-imidazole-5-carboxylic acid (12d) as the most promising example of the series was synthesized as its dipotassium salt (50, HR 720). This compound 50 inhibited the specific binding of [125I]-AII to rat liver membranes with an IC50 value of 0.48 nM. In vivo, 50 dose-dependently inhibited the AII-induced pressor response in normotensive pithed rats (ID50 = 0.11 mg/kg i.v. and 0.7 mg/kg po). In addition, this compound produced a marked and long-lasting decrease in blood pressure in high renin animal models and proved to be superior to the corresponding tetrazole 45 as well as to DuP 753 or its active metabolite EXP 3174. Compound 50 has been selected for in-depth investigations and is currently undergoing phase II clinical trials.

Solution structure of RP 71955, a new 21 amino acid tricyclic peptide active against HIV-1 virus.

The structure of RP 71955, a new tricyclic 21 amino acid peptide active against human immunodeficiency virus 1, was determined. Its amino acid composition was inferred from the results of fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, Raman spectroscopy, and amino acid analysis. Its sequence could not be determined classically, using Edman degradation, given the lack of a free terminal NH2. It was deduced from the interpretation of interresidue nuclear Overhauser effects and confirmed by the sequencing of peptides obtained by limited chemical hydrolysis. It was found to be CLGIGSCNDFAGCGYAVVCFW. An internal amide bond between the NH2 of C1 and the gamma-COOH of D9 was observed, as well as two disulfide bridges, one between C1 and C13 and one between C7 and C19. The three-dimensional structure of RP 71955 was determined from nuclear magnetic resonance derived constraints using distance geometry, restrained molecular dynamics, nuclear Overhauser effect back calculation, and an iterative refinement using a full relaxation matrix approach. Analogies between the structure of RP 71955 and some functional domains of gp41, the transmembrane protein of human immunodeficiency virus 1, suggest hypotheses concerning the mode of action of RP 71955.

Four triterpenoid saponins from dried roots of Gypsophila species.

Four new triterpenoid saponins were isolated from the roots of Gypsophila paniculata and G. arrostii. Their structures were elucidated using a combination of homo- and heteronuclear 2D NMR techniques, without having recourse to chemical degradation or modification. The saponins investigated are: 3-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----2)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----3)]-bet a-D- glucuronopyranosyl quillaic acid 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1----3)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----4)]-alph a- L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1----2)-beta-D-fucopyranoside; 3-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----2)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----3)]-bet a- D-glucuronopyranosyl quillaic acid 28-O-beta-D-arabinopyranosyl-(1----4)-beta-D-arabinopyranosyl++ +-(1----3)-beta-D- xylopyranosyl-(1----4)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1----2)-beta-D-fucopyran oside; 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1----2)-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl gypsogenin 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1----3)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----4)]-alph a- L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1----2)-beta-D-fucopyranoside; 3-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----3)-[beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1----2)]-bet a- D-glucuronopyranosyl gypsogenin 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1----3)-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1----4)-alpha -L- rhamnopyranosyl-(1----2)-beta-D-fucopyranoside.

Nuclear Overhauser effect as a tool for the complete assignment of nonexchangeable proton resonances in short deoxyribonucleic acid helices.

A new strategy for the assignment of nonexchangeable proton resonances in oligonucleotide duplexes is presented and used to interpret the spectra of the oligonucleotide helix d(CpGpCpGpCpG) X d(CpGpCpGpCpG) in low salt (B form). This procedure is based on the use of sequential homodecoupling (1D) or COSY (2D) for the interconnection of the sugar resonances pertaining to the same residue and on the measurement of nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) (1D or 2D) between critically located protons in order to establish the connectivity between the base protons and the sugar protons, as well as between consecutive base-sugar residues. The assignment performed by this method was found in perfect agreement with the one made previously by the incremental procedure [Cheng, D. M., Kan, L.-S., Frechet, D., Ts'o, P. O. P., Uesugi, S., Shida, T., & Ikehara, M. (1983) Biopolymers (in press)]. Also, this method is demonstrated to be applicable to DNA short helices containing A X T base pairs.

Thermal perturbation differential spectra of ribonucleic acids. III. Chain length effect.

Thermal perturbation differential spectra of several adenylic acid oligomers, two single-strand polyribonucleotides, poly(A) and poly(C), and five trinucleoside diphosphates, U-A-A, U-A-G, U-G-A, C-U-C and C-U-A, were obtained and analysed. It is shown that these differential spectra cannot be entirely described by the nearest-neighbour approximation devised from the appropriate mononucleotides and dinucleoside monophosphates. In an attempt to determine the origin of this discrepancy, we have examined the possible optical changes arising from increased electronic interactions, changes in conformation, solvent accessibility or thermodynamic properties. This study indicates that dinucleoside monophosphates on one the hand and trinucleoside diphosphates on the other hand, are separate classes from the conformational point of view. The capacity to assume stacks, absent or negligible in higher oligomers or polymers, makes them poor models for the stacking interaction in longer nucleic acids. It is also shown that in trinucleoside diphosphates, interaction between the two terminal bases arising from bulging out of the middle base is very likely to occur. This type of interaction has to be taken into account in the description of the temperature perturbation differential spectra of trimers.

Thermal perturbation differential spectra of ribonucleic acids. I. Hydration effects.

A relatively important change in UV absorption is observed upon thermal perturbation of nucleotide solutions. Comparison of these thermal perturbation spectra of nucleic acid residues with solvent perturbation spectra of the same compounds suggests that this spectral change can most probably be attributed to temperature induced hydration change of the bases. This conclusion is confirmed by the results obtained from acid-base perturbation spectra of these nucleotides as well as thermal perturbation spectra of nucleotides containing modified bases. It is shown that this temperature dependent change in UV absorption is also present in dinucleoside monophosphates. In that case, this effect is superimposed upon the well known change in absorbance due to the unstacking of the bases during heating.

Thermal perturbation differential spectra of ribonucleic acids. II. Nearest neighbour interactions.

Dinucleoside monophosphates are used here as models for studying sequence dependence of the hypochromic effect correlated with base stacking. It was shown that once the contribution due to the temperature dependent hydration change of the bases is substracted from the thermal perturbation difference spectra of dinucleoside monophosphates, the absorbance change of the dimer only due to unstacking of the bases could be obtained. In order to be able to use these corrected thermal perturbation difference spectra as models for studying nearest neighbour interactions in nucleic acids, it was necessary to normalize them to 100% unstacking of the bases. To perform this normalization, apparent thermodynamic parameters were extracted from the corrected transition curves by means of the two-state model.