Carbocyclic nucleoside

Carbocyclic nucleosides (also referred to as carbanucleosides) are nucleoside analogues in which a methylene group has replaced the oxygen atom of the furanose ring. These analogues have the nucleobase attached at a simple alkyl carbon rather than being part of a hemiaminal ether linkage. As a result, they have increased chemical stability. They also have increased metabolic stability because they are unaffected by phosphorylases and hydrolases that cleave the glycosidic bond between the nucleobase and furanose ring of nucleosides. They retain many of the biological properties of the original nucleosides with respect to recognition by various enzymes and receptors.

Carbocyclic nucleosides were originally limited to a five-membered ring system, matching the ring-size of the nucleosides; however, this term has been broadened to three-, four-, and six-membered rings.

The 5-membered ring carbocyclic nucleosides aristeromycin, the analog of adenosine, and neplanocin A, the cyclopentene analog of aristeromycin, have been isolated from natural sources. They both exhibit significant biological activity as antiviral and antitumour agents.

A large number of novel carbocyclic nucleosides of pyrimidines and purines have been prepared, and many of these compounds are endowed with interesting biological activities.

The cyclopentenylcytosine (CPE-C) was developed as a potent antitumor and antiviral agent (phase 1 trials) and exhibited potent anti-orthopoxvirus as well as anti-West Nile virus activities. Carbocyclic (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2-deoxyuridine( (+) C-BVDU) GR95168 possesses activity against herpes simplex virus type l (HSV-1) and varicella zoster virus (VZV, chicken pox and shingles) in-vitro and in-vivo.

The two guanine antivral carbocyclic nucleosides, the anti-HIV agent abacavir and the anti-hepatitis B agent entecavir, are reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Abacavir, was developed from racemic (±)-carbovir which was reported in 1988 by Robert Vince as the first carbocyclic nucleoside analogue to show potent activity against HIV with low cytotoxicity. The (-) enantiomer of carbovir was later shown to be the biologically active form for inhibition of HIV. However carbovir’s low aqueous solubility and poor oral bioavailability, as well as inefficient central nervous system penetration prevented it from further developing as an anti-HIV agent. These difficulties were overcome by investigating prodrug analogues of (-) carbovir which lead to the 6-cyclopropylamino-2-aminopurine nucleoside abacavir, which was approved in 1998 by the FDA for the treatment of HIV infection.

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