Design, Synthesis, and Antimycobacterial Activity of Novel Theophylline-7-Acetic Acid Derivatives With Amino Acid Moieties.

The theophylline-7-acetic acid (7-TAA) scaffold is a promising novel lead compound for antimycobacterial activity. Here, we derive a model for antitubercular activity prediction based on 14 7-TAA derivatives with amino acid moieties and their methyl esters. The model is applied to a combinatorial library, consisting of 40 amino acid and methyl ester derivatives of 7-TAA. The best three predicted compounds are synthesized and tested against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. All of them are stable, non-toxic against human cells and show antimycobacterial activity in the nanomolar range being 60 times more active than ethambutol.

Theophylline-7-acetic acid derivatives with amino acids as anti-tuberculosis agents.

A series of amides were synthesized by condensation of theophylline-7-acetic acid and eight commercially available amino acid methyl ester hydrochlorides. Consecutive hydrolysis of six of the amido-esters resulted in the formation of corresponding amido-acids. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The activity varied depending on the amino acid fragments and in seven cases exerted excellent values with MICs 0.46-0.26 µM. Assessment of the cytotoxicity revealed that the compounds were not cytotoxic against the human embryonal kidney cell line HEK-293T. The theophylline-7-acetamides containing amino acid moieties appear to be promising lead compounds for the development of antimycobacterial agents.

Esterification of 7-theophyllineacetic acid with diethylene glycol monomethyl ether.

The kinetics of esterification of 7-theophyllineacetic acid with diethylene glycol monomethyl ether in the presence of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and 4-dimethylaminopyridine as catalyst was studied. According to the known mechanism, besides the main process, the side-reaction of intramolecular rearrangement with formation of pharmacologically active N-acylurea occurs. The course of the main and the side-process was monitored by RP-HPLC with UV-detection. For that purpose, quantification of both ester and N-acylurea in the reaction mixture was performed. Influence of the concentration of the reactants (acid, alcohol and catalyst) on the progress of esterification and preparation of the by-product was investigated. Based on the obtained results, the reaction conditions leading to maximal yield of the ester and N-acylurea are proposed. The possibility of turning esterification to the synthesis of the side-product was also found. Reactions of the preparation of both the ester and N-acylurea were found to follow first-order kinetics. The rate constants of both processes were estimated.