Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of prodrugs of indeno[2,1-c]quinoline derivatives.

Recently we have reported anti-TB properties of a new class of conformationally-constrained indeno[2,1-c]quinolines, which are although considerably active (MIC 0.39-0.78 µg/mL) suffered from intense solubility problems. We thought of improving their bioavailability by prodrugs approach. Accordingly esters of the "Lead" indeno[2,1-c]quinolines 1, 15 and 27 derivatives were synthesized and their prodrug nature at the physiological pH were confirmed. Prodrugs were evaluated for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv by MABA assay to show that they have 2- to 4-fold improved anti-TB activities, increased aqueous solubility and superior selectivity index over their respective parent compounds. MIC of these prodrugs was in the range of <0.20-6.0 µg/mL, and in general, no cytotoxicity was observed in VERO cells.

Synthesis and structure of azole-fused indeno[2,1-c]quinolines and their anti-mycobacterial properties.

Prompted by our discovery of a new class of conformationally-locked indeno[2,1-c]quinolines as anti-mycobacterials, compounds 2a and 3a (Fig. 1; MIC < 0.39 µg mL(-1) and 0.78 µg mL(-1), respectively)(14) with a freely rotating C2-imidazolo substituent, we herein describe the synthesis of pentacyclic azole-fused quinoline derivatives 4 and 5, in which we have restricted the rotation of the C2-imidazolo moiety by fusing it to the adjacent quinoline-nitrogen to give a five-membered fused azole heterocycle. The idea of locking the flexibility of the system by conformational constraint was simply to reduce its entropy, thereby reducing the overall free-energy of its binding to the target receptor. Out of 22 different azole-fused indeno[2,1-c]quinoline derivatives, seven structurally distinct compounds, 9, 15, 17, 25, 27, 28 and 29, have shown 79-99% growth inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv at a fixed dose of 6.25 µg mL(-1). The efficacies of these compounds were evaluated in vitro for 8/9 consecutive days using the BACTEC radiometric assay upon administration of single dose on day one. Of these, two compounds, 9 and 28, inhibited growth of M. tuberculosis very effectively at MIC < 0.39 µg mL(-1) (0.89 µM and 1 µM, respectively). These active compounds 9, 15, 17, 25, 27, 28 and 29 were screened for their cytotoxic effect on mammalian cells (human monocytic cell line U937), which showed that the human cell survival is almost unperturbed (100% survival), except for compound 25, hence these new compounds with new scaffolds have been identified as potent anti-mycobacterials, virtually with no toxicity. Thus these "hit" molecules constitute our important "leads" for further optimization by structure-activity relationship against TB.

Conformationally-constrained indeno[2,1-c]quinolines--a new class of anti-mycobacterial agents.

The design, synthesis and anti-mycobacterial activities of 23 conformationally-constrained indeno[2,1-c]quinolines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv is reported. Based on a structural comparison with the anti-TB TMC207 we have devised a synthetic methodology for making new conformationally-constrained indeno[2,1-c]quinoline analogs (Fig. 1), by retaining the biologically significant quinoline and the phenyl rings in the SW and NW hemispheres, respectively. This new class of conformationally-constrained compounds has been designed such that their conformational flexibility across C4-C2' is diminished to nil by covalently locking the C4 center of the quinoline moiety in the SW hemisphere with the C2' center of the phenyl ring in the NW hemisphere, thereby decreasing the entropic penalty for their complex formation within the target protein, which will in turn give improved free-energy of stabilization of the complex. The efficacies of these anti-TB compounds were evaluated in vitro for 8/9 consecutive days using the BACTEC radiometric assay upon administration of a single-dose on day one. Compounds 11, 13, 16, 24, 30, 32 and 34 showed 85-99% growth inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Compounds 13 and 34 however have inhibited the mycobacterial growth more effectively than others in the series, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 0.39 microg mL(-1) (1 microM) and 0.78 microg mL(-1) (2 microM) respectively.