Synthesis of a potent 5'-methylthioadenosine/S-adenosylhomocysteine (MTAN) inhibitor.

MTAN has been known to occur in a variety of bacterial cell types. Due to the evolution of bacterial strains which are resistant to some of the most powerful antibiotics there has been a renewed interest in the development of novel anti-microbial agents. Presented herein is a synthesis of a potent MTAN inhibitor, namely 2-amino-4-[5-(4-amino-5H-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-7-yl)-3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidin-2-ylmethylsulfanyl]-butyric acid (1).